Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) issued a pessimistic and somewhat humorous challenge Wednesday to Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) during the third day of FEG's Akasaka Fight Festival.
"I always lose," Shibata said. "I just lose, lose, lose. I don't know if I have the right to fight Akiyama, but I want to fight him. It is not up to me though."
When asked about his feelings regarding the heavy-handed judoka, Shibata had very little to say: "I wouldn't say I have any special feelings towards him. He is just another fighter."
With "no right" to fight Akiyama and no "special feelings" toward him, one may wonder why Shibata actually wants the match. The answer is not too difficult.
Akiyama is apparently proving difficult to match up for the July 21 Dream 5 card. While Shibata fighting Akiyama is irrelevant to the rest of the MMA world, getting Akiyama back in the ring for the first time after having his nose rearranged courtesy of Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) is an understandable goal.
"I'm going to offer to Akiyama this matchup," said Dream Event Producer Keichi Sasahara. "We will talk to him."
Obviously the challenge was no surprise to Sasahara, and the matchup is very likely.
FEG has also been holding a daily shadow boxing competition at the Akasaka Fight Festival in which participants' punches and kicks are counted by pedometers strapped to their ankles and wrists. After shouting advice all week, K-1 Event Producer Sadaharu Tanikawa was finally called out and stripped off his suit to participate in the challenge.
Although his style was lacking, Tanikawa's advice was apparently good. He bested most of the participants thus far, including Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) and Shinya Aoki (Pictures).
Masakatsu Funaki (Pictures) proved he still has it, though, beating his younger foes and throwing 710 "strikes" compared to the previous high scores in the 400s.
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