Exciting news for MMA fans as legendary submission artist Shinya Aoki makes his return to grappling on Dec. 6 in Singapore. Aoki will be facing Cole Abate in a submission grappling contest at an upcoming ONE show, as announced by the company on Tuesday.
Aoki’s last appearance in the ONE cage was in January, where he secured a victory over John Lineker in a last-minute openweight bout. This came after Lineker replaced Sage Northcutt.
Prior to his recent win, Aoki had suffered four consecutive losses, including knockout defeats to Saygid Izagakhmaev and Yoshihiro Akiyama in MMA, as well as losses under grappling rules to Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci.
Abate, who is 22 years younger than Aoki, is a black belt under Guilherme Lemos. He made headlines by winning the ADCC East Coast Trials in 2021 at just 16 years old and as a blue belt. Abate also recently claimed victory at the 2024 IBJJF Pan Championship No-Gi.
Fans can catch all the action from ONE Fight Night 26 live on Amazon Prime, including a highly anticipated MMA title bout between Christian Lee and Alibeg Rasulov in the main event.