Yoshihiro Akiyama To Train at Xtreme Couture; UFC 108 Fight With Wanderlei Silva Possible
UFC middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama, who earned a split decision over Alan Belcher in July in his UFC debut, will begin training with Shawn Tompkins and Xtreme Couture beginning in October, according to Sherdog.com:
Tompkins said the Japanese-Korean middleweight is expected to stay the entire month with the team and will focus on “refining his striking” with the coach and Vitor Belfort, who is slated to face UFC 185-pound champion Anderson Silva in January.
“He is a great person and fighter and has a very slick aggressive style,” said Tompkins. “I would like to help him with his defense.”
Tompkins told Sherdog that he did not know who or when Akiyama would be fighting next, but Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas tweeted on Monday that Akiyama could fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 108 on January 2 in Las Vegas.
Tags: Wanderlei Silva, Yoshihiro Akiyama
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Bout time Wandy gets a break from elite competition. No disrespect meant towards Akiyama at all but Wanderlei has had his hands full in recent years (Crocop, Hendo, Liddell, Rampage, Franklin). I’ve said it all along I’d like to see Silva get some more fights under his belt against some middle of the pack guys in hopes he can chain together a string of wins and get his confidence and killer instinct back. Look what he did to Jardine. This would be a good move by the UFC.
Do you know anything of Akiyama’s career have you seen his fights, helll I would put Akiyama up against Franklin or Hendo any day man com’on, I know he isn’t originally from the UFC but wow…
13~1~0 (2NC) he has only gone to decision once in his career, he has 5 (t)ko’s and 7 subs…. sounds like a pushover
Yes your right this is a step down from those guys ,but its going to be a good fight none the less.
Wasn’t wanderlei training at xtreme couture as well with forrest griffin? I mat be mistakened.
He was. Until he opened up his own gym and Wand Fight Team was created.
Good for him from a business stand-point, but I still don’t think Wand is the same fighter he once was, ever since parting ways with Chute Box.
Good fight nonetheless and I’ll be routing for my boy Wanderlei!
I never thought going from Alan Belcher to Wanderlei Silva would ever be considered a “step down”
From Franklin to Akiyama a “step down” especially when making ones debut @ 185, interesting concept
I was making a comment to Markus .fr702
your second line was what I mean.
From Franklin to Akiyama a “step down” especially when making ones debut @ 185, interesting concept.
this is gonna be a tough fight for both guys….Im definitly going with akiyama by UD though………but guys what happens to wandi if he loses this fight?
Its going to be a difficult fight for both but I doubt that it will go to a decision honestly
yeah i agree with gunslinger. I dont think Sexyama is a push over fighter. He looked a lot better against Belcher than i thought he would. I also want to say that Wand is gonna lose this fight by a SD or UD.
I like akiyama but if you watch the fight against belcher again, belcher won that fight. I think belcher got robbed the way herman got robbed when he fought belcher. Guess it all comes back around!
I think this is a perfect fight for both and neither a step down or up, just a great matchup for both and a great opportunity for both. I don’t know how it will play out but i hope it doesn’t go to a decision.
Despite what Joe Rogan says, I would like to disagree with him and you Jazz, was it a close fight ofcourse it was but honestly Akiyama won that fight… At this very moment I’m not going to be able to go into detail but later on most likely this evening I will do sooo and then you can tell me how wrong I’am… I’ve seen the bout probably 40 times and I’ve come to the same conclusion, but hey maybe its just me and a few judges
but imho there was no Robbery
That’s kool FR702. I don’t think belcher decisevely won, like he dominated sexyama but i do think he should have gotten the w. I will check it out again and see if there was anything i missed.
Also dude, come on we shouldn’t use judges scoring as par tof our argument when we have see decisions like Hamill vs Bisping
but it’s kool dude i see your point
I heard Rogan say that Belcher was robbed when the fight was broadcast, and I was surprised. I had Akiyama winning both rounds 1 and 2. Third round was close but I thought Belcher won it. But I went back to watch the fight again cause to hear a commentator make a statment like that is pretty big in my opinion.
I’ve seen it a few times, and I still see Akiyama winning this. Not sure what he was talking about. Just wondering what was it that you saw that made you think Belcher won? I thought the kicks to Akiyama was the only thing that Belcher had going for him, but it seemed too little too late. I saw him landing it near the end of the second round but by that time Akiyama had already dominated that round. And the first round went to Akiyama as well I thought.
Im liking the looks of 108
Silva/Belfort
Silva/Rashad
Silva/Akiyama
I think its gonna be a tough night for the Silva’s
if they can somehow book jay silva vs mcfedries or something that would be perfect.
lol
UFC 108 PRESENTS SILVApalooza!!!
The greatest collection of Silvas in captivity in the known world!!
And don’t forget Joe Silva at cageside…
I hope Sexyama works on his D though.. Belcher tagged him a couple a times. Wand is going to be HUNGRY for this win man its gonna be intense. I still say Sexyama can take it from him.
Also, I do think Sexyama won the fight 30-27 is crazy but I do think he won the fight. I will say that Belcher looked like the more active fighter in the late 2nd and 3rd round so he could take it on that.
Akiyama by sd or ud? you’re ****ing bonkers, wandy is going to ktfo akiyama. With as weak defense as he has all it takes is one hit for him to drop his guard and then a flurry afterwards to finish the bout via tko.