Shinya Aoki v Tomoshige Sera Set For Road To One

Shinya Aoki is one of the most famous representatives of Japanese MMA and one of the best MMA grapplers on the planet, and now he’s set to take on Carpe Diem representative and Quintet veteran, Tomoshige Sera, in a grappling match at Road to ONE on April 17th. The match will go ahead despite the current Coronavirus pandemic and this grappling match will headline a full card of fights.

The fights themselves will follow ONE FC’s traditional style of mixing and matching various competition formats like Kickboxing, Boxing, Grappling and MMA, all on the same card. Given the current state of affairs and the worldwide cancellation of sporting events, including the UFC’s decision to indefinitely postpone all events, it’s surprising that Road to ONE is actually still going ahead, but the below confirmation came from Tomoshige Sera’s official Instagram account:

The match itself should deliver fireworks as Shinya Aoki is without doubt one of the best grapplers of his generation and despite his MMA career winding down, he’s still more than capable of taking on Tomoshige Sera in a grappling match. Despite Aoki recently losing the ONE FC Lightweight Championship, he’s still highly regarded in MMA and grappling and has already mounted his comeback with a submission victory against Honorio Banario at the end of 2019.

This took his MMA record to a stunning 44-9-1 and across his illustrious career, Aoki has won championship titles in almost every promotion he’s ever fought in and has overcome some of the most underrated Lighter Weight fighters of all time like Joachim Hansen, Eddie Alvarez and Caol Uno.

For the latest in MMA-related news, click here.

Alex Lindsey

Alex Lindsey is the managing editor here at Grappling Insider. Originally starting training in MMA in 2008, injuries and university slowed progress until he decided to put on a gi for the first time back in 2015.

Alex Lindsey has 367 posts and counting. See all posts by Alex Lindsey