By The Numbers: Shinya Aoki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama have thus far managed to beat back Father Time’s advances, so perhaps it was inevitable that their paths would one day cross.

The aging and accomplished veterans will match fists and wits in a One Championship “One X” lightweight attraction on Saturday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Aoki carries a four-fight winning streak into the cage. The former Dream, Shooto and One Championship titleholder last appeared at One on TNT 4, where he closed out a trilogy by submitting Eduard Folayang with an armbar in the first round of their April 28 rematch. Akiyama, meanwhile, has lost six of his past eight bouts. He has not fought since he punched out Sherif Mohamed in the first round of their Feb. 28, 2020 clash at One Championship “King of the Jungle.”

As Aoki and Akiyama move ever closer to their confrontation at 170 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

38: Years of age for Aoki, who was born on May 9, 1983 in Shizuoka, Japan.

30: Aoki wins by submission, accounting for 64% of his career total (47). His methods of choice: six armbars, four neck cranks, four rear-naked chokes, three triangle chokes, two gogoplatas, two triangle armbars, two arm-triangle chokes, one standing armlock, one heel hook, one hammerlock, one Achilles lock, one keylock, one twister and one brabo choke. Aoki owns four other wins by knockout or technical knockout, 11 more by decision and another two by disqualification.

5: Sub-minute finishes on the Aoki resume, with two of them having taken place inside One Championship. He dismissed Ev Ting with an arm-triangle choke in 57 seconds at One Championship “Kingdom of Heroes” on Oct. 6, 2018 and put Honorio Banario to sleep with a brabo choke in 54 seconds at One Championship “Century” Part 2 on Oct. 13, 2019.

49: Professional rounds completed by Aoki as a mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 13 different occasions and carries an 11-2 record in those bouts.

195: Combined victories between the eight opponents—Folayang, Hayato Sakurai (twice), Christian Lee, Ben Askren, Eddie Alvarez, Gilbert Melendez, Joachim Hansen and Jutaro Nakao—who have defeated Aoki. They boast a cumulative .687 (195-82-7) winning percentage.

46: Years of age for Akiyama, who was born in Osaka, Japan, on July 29, 1975.

7: Akiyama victories by submission, accounting for 47% of his career total (15). His methods of choice: five armbars and two Ezekiel chokes. Akiyama holds six other victories by knockout or technical knockout and two more by decision.

59: Seconds needed for Akiyama to tap Carl Toomey with an armbar at K-1 Hero’s 2 on July 6, 2005. Having occurred nearly 17 years ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 24-fight career.

13: Calendar years in which Akiyama has fought at least once. He went 1-0 in 2004, 3-1 in 2005, 5-0 with one no contest in 2006, 1-0 with one no contest in 2007, 2-0 in 2008, 1-0 in 2009, 0-2 in 2010, 0-1 in 2011, 0-1 in 2012, 1-0 in 2014, 0-1 in 2015, 0-1 in 2019 and 1-0 in 2020.

.709: Cumulative winning percentage between the seven men—Agilan Thani, Alberto Mina, Jake Shields, Vitor Belfort, Michael Bisping, Chris Leben and Jerome Le Banner—who have beaten Akiyama. They sport a combined record of 139-56-1.