Fletcher gets the vote up...even if the joke went over his head ;)
Love my young samurai 
I'm pretty sure every single lightweight in history has had losses. Aoki at the very least is on the short list of greatest LW mma subgrapplers.
With the LW division it is very difficult to produce even a short GOAT list, let alone name the all time GOAT, but I would put Aoki on the list of 5 or so contenders.
Ray Elbe - Fletcher gets the vote up...even if the joke went over his head ;)
Love my young samurai
Haha
Good look in Kuwait tiger; "success is the best revenge". Chok dee cap
He's definitely up there, top 5 all time. I would have to put bj and gomi above him. Then others like hansen, sherk and pulver are gray area with aoki for the spots. IMO ;)
BeachesBJJGuy - I've had the pleasure of training with Aoki at Evolve in Singapore, and doubt he'd consider himself GOAT, or actually even consider the notion at all. He really embodies the martial artist trying to improve himself always. I've seen him ask Renzo for guillotine details and tap to Gordinho, and then ask to learn the choke. Hell, he even gave me kudos for one second catching an Americana from bottom in side control that he wasn't expecting (I'm a lowly 44 yr old purple belt). Dude's cool, and talented and fun to watch as a martial artist. Good enough for me.
yeah - Eddie said some cool things about him and a couple of the Evolve guys at Avilon did too :)
Someone told me he gets tapped by Zorobabel and shit, I'm not saying he's invincible... just that his résumé at LW is better than everyone else's, including Gomi and Penn.
"just that his résumé at LW is better than everyone else's, including Gomi and Penn"
Ridiculously false.
9 top 10 ranked wins, 10 including wins over champions (i.e. including One FC champ Boku)
No one else has that. Gomi and Penn do not - not at lightweight. Define "ridiculously false" *facepalm.jpg
LOL at a win over a 35 year old Boku meaning ANYTHING. Boku hasn't been relevant to anything in about 5 years.
Aoki has never even been the #1 LW in the world at any single point in time, let alone of ALL time.
No one has as many top 10 eins as aoki
lol
Tomato Can - LOL at a win over a 35 year old Boku meaning ANYTHING. Boku hasn't been relevant to anything in about 5 years.Not that I agree with the thread, but a loooooot of rankings had Aoki as #1 for a while a few years back.
Aoki has never even been the #1 LW in the world at any single point in time, let alone of ALL time.
man meets fate - No one has as many top 10 eins as aoki
False. If you count his Shooto days Gomi has as many if not more, plus he reigned at the top of the division which Aoki never managed to do.
Flexo -Tomato Can - LOL at a win over a 35 year old Boku meaning ANYTHING. Boku hasn't been relevant to anything in about 5 years.Not that I agree with the thread, but a loooooot of rankings had Aoki as #1 for a while a few years back.
Aoki has never even been the #1 LW in the world at any single point in time, let alone of ALL time.
Not sure when that could have been the case. Maybe briefly in 2010 after he avenged the loss to Hansen and beat Hirota, but before he lost to Melendez?
I guess it was either him or Penn at the time, but that was only like a 4 month period. Then he got dominated by Melendez and any possible claim was gone.
LyotoBundy -Nate would put a beating on Aoki. I love the guy's jits though.
Very intriguing matchup
Doctor NPD - Aoki doesn't beat any top 10 fighter in the UFC.
Sorry but its true 
Paramount Donkey -Doctor NPD - Aoki doesn't beat any top 10 fighter in the UFC.Sorry but its true
He doesn't beat any top 10 fighter out of the UFC either, as Eddie Alvarez recently proved.
Dummy
anything said in Aoki's case is factual (such as citing his superior record of wins against then-ranked opponents against every other LW - even two of the three that beat him i.e. Hansen and Alvarez, he himself beat. He's 2-1 and 1-1 with them respectively)... and anything said against him is mostly speculative (this guy would beat him, that guy would beat him, etc... or "Gilbert beat him".
Sorry but 25-3 lightweight Aoki stands at the top for me, for his 2006-2009 alone. Those four years, epic stuff. Only the 2nd Hansen fight (after already fighting that night) versus a streak of big wins against then-ranked guys, champions etc such as JZ Calvan, Shaolin, Hansen x2, Alvarez, Hirota, Uno, and then even after the Gilbert loss he goes on to submit a guy who arguably beat Gilbert in PRIDE prior, then top 5-10 stud Tatsuya Kawajiri, and submits him fast. The Gilbert fight and second Eddie fight count against him but Aoki's LW record is top notch.
Fletch's idea of "factual" is highly dubious. Like I said, look at Gomi's whole record and he has as many or more top 10 wins and certainly significantly more elite top 3-5 wins.
Lost respect for Aoki after the NYE Dream card in 2010 I think it was. I was hoping he would win but after what he did in round one I'm glad he got knocked out.