MMA News: Shinya Aoki May Be Next In Line For Ok Rae Yoon's Lightweight Title

Ok Rae Yoon won the lightweight championship from Christian Lee after a unanimous decision victory at ONE: Revolution last September 24.

The South Korean put on a masterful performance against Lee and is without a challenger for the time being.

However, a fight against Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Shinya Aoki makes a ton of sense.

Aoki is currently enjoying a four-fight win streak, three of them via submission.

Team Lakay member Honorio Banario was the first to fall to Aoki in his first fight back since dropping the lightweight title to Lee via TKO in May of 2019.

The Japanese quickly established his prowess in the grappling game taking the Filipino down 30 seconds into the first round.

The former lightweight champion made Banario tap out a few moments later via D’arce choke.

Fellow Japanese fighter Kimihiro Eto was his next victim, and Aoki soundly defeated him via unanimous decision after another grappling masterclass.

For his next fight against American wrestler James Nakashima, Aoki did not need to go to the ground to pick up the first-round victory.

Aoki avoided Nakashima’s strikes while throwing some of his own, before jumping on his back forcing the American to tap out via a hybrid neck crank and rear-naked choke.

Longtime rival Eduard Folayang was next to step up to the plate but also fell victim to Aoki’s otherworldly ground game.

The MMA legend was able to take Folayang down in the middle of the first round and simply outworked him before forcing the Filipino superstar to submit to an armbar.

If ONE Championship decides not to grant Lee an immediate rematch against Ok, then a fight against the longest-reigning lightweight champion in the promotion only makes sense.

Controversy surrounded the South Korean’s victory over Lee as even ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong thought that the decision should have gone in favor of the Singaporean-American.

Ok has amazing stamina and enjoys dragging his opponent to the later rounds as he whittles their endurance down with well-timed body shots and forcing them into grappling exchanges.

The South Korean was able to defend extremely well against Lee’s submission attempts and landed a ton of strikes, including a straight right hand that rocked Lee.

Having Aoki face the reigning lightweight champion gives Ok a chance to prove to pundits and the MMA community that he deserves to have the intricately-crafted belt around his waist.