DREAM lightweight champion, Shinya Aoki is currently preparing to face former WEC lightweight champ, 'Razor' Rob McCullough on September 24. One of the biggest changes Aoki made recently, was deciding to move all of his training camps outside Japan, and into Singapore. He joined Evolve MMA where he feels that their deep talent pool could help him prepare and improve better:
"I joined the Evolve Fight Team in order to improve myself as a fighter. I consider Evolve MMA to be the top MMA camp in Asia by far," Shinya Aoki told BloodyElbow.com as translated by the people at Evolve, "There are so many world champions here in every discipline. I am able to learn from everyone."
"My weakness has always been my striking. With Evolve MMA, I am exposed to the world's best Muay Thai champions and fighters," Aoki continued, "For example, Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn has been helping me tremendously. Attachai Fairtex, Yodteera Sityodtong, and Yodchatri Sityodtong have helped me a lot too."
"At Evolve MMA, I feel that I get a complete training camp. I can train BJJ with so many top notch Black Belts. I can learn Muay Thai from so many world champions."
I was able to have a short glimpse of him preparing during the critical moments of their camp, and like I did with the Evolve guys training for OneFC, I was able to take enough photos for an entire gallery.
So do check after the jump for our exclusive gallery with Aoki, as he works out with a few of the world champions at Evolve MMA.
Also, don't forget to check out our other gallery "Evolve MMA Fighters Train for ONE FC".