Shooto "Back To Our Roots" Preview

Saturday, February 17th, 2007
Pacifico Yokohama in Kanagawa, Japan

Shooto 167-pound Title Bout: Shinya Aoki (9-2) vs. Akira Kikuchi (14-2)

Aoki is returning to Shooto to defend his title in a rematch with Kikuchi.

Aoki had a spectacular 2006. Last February, he defeated Akira Kikuchi for the Shooto Middleweight Title. Then in August, he debuted for PRIDE and handed the Jason Black's (20-2-1) first submission loss. In his next PRIDE fight, he used a flying triangle choke to submit Clay French, who is currently the King of the Cage Lightweight title holder. He ended his year on a high note by submitting Joachim Hansen at PRIDE Shockwave with a gogoplata, which was named the 2006 MMAFighting.com Submission of the Year.

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