A decade after his only appearance in RIZIN, Shinya Aoki is preparing for a homecoming that once seemed impossible.
The former ONE Championship lightweight king will face Japanese superstar Mikuru Asakura at Super RIZIN 5 in Osaka, marking his return to a major Japanese promotion for the first time in years. But for Aoki, this comeback is about more than another fight. It is about closing a chapter that has remained unfinished since the collapse of DREAM.
Aoki, who headlined RIZIN’s inaugural event in 2015 with a submission victory over Kazushi Sakuraba, admitted that reconnecting with Japan’s MMA scene carries deeper meaning than simply adding another fight to his résumé.
“For me, being known to the younger fans is not too important,” Aoki said through an interpreter. “What I’m more focused on is when you look back at the history of Japanese MMA, there was PRIDE, and then PRIDE was bought out by the UFC. And then DREAM came along, but DREAM kind of faded out without a full closure.
“It just kind of ended, and everybody was kept in limbo. The fans were kept in limbo. And for me, the main reason for 2026 is to fight and to make a full closure of what DREAM was supposed to do. So that is my No. 1 priority in my return.”
DREAM emerged in 2008 after the fall of PRIDE and quickly became one of Japan’s premier MMA organizations. The promotion featured stars such as Eddie Alvarez, Gegard Mousasi, Ronaldo Souza, Alistair Overeem and Sakuraba before folding in 2012.
When DREAM disappeared, former PRIDE executive Nobuyuki Sakakibara launched RIZIN to revive Japanese MMA. Yet despite competing in Japan several times under the ONE Championship banner, Aoki never truly felt connected to the country’s traditional MMA scene.
“When I was discussing about fighting in RIZIN in 2026, I wasn’t quite sure how the fans would react to my return,” Aoki said. “A month and a half in and just going through this process, I was actually very surprised that the fans accepted my return.
“And for me, I kind of felt that I would never fight in Japan again. With that said, I’m very grateful that I was given this opportunity to fight on such a big prestigious event. Right now, I’m nothing but grateful.”
The veteran later explained why his previous fights in Japan under ONE Championship felt different from competing for a domestic promotion.
“Obviously ONE is an international brand and they create their content towards the international audience,” Aoki said. “What I meant by never fighting in Japan is that I was talking about Japanese combat sports.
“I was fighting for an international company making content towards internationally. I wasn’t fighting in a Japanese historical company targeted for the Japanese audience.”
While many fans associate Japanese MMA with the spectacle and atmosphere of PRIDE, Aoki believes the current generation offers something entirely different.
“I would have to say that the current product that RIZIN brings is a completely different thing than what PRIDE had,” Aoki said. “The biggest difference is that what RIZIN is doing right now is a sport. It’s a sport called MMA. And that’s the main biggest difference back from the PRIDE days. Coming back to this new Japanese MMA scene, is it good or bad? I look at it as I have no choice. This is what I’m coming back to, and this is what I have to do. It is what it is.”
Despite spending years away from Japan’s domestic promotions, Aoki believes the timing of his return may have created even greater anticipation among fans.
“I’ve thought a few times, man, maybe I should have made my comeback earlier to Japanese MMA,” Aoki said.
“But when you take a different approach and a different angle, because of ONE’s direction in MMA and Japanese MMA’s direction has kind of separated, I think there’s a highly anticipated reason why I’m back.
“The past 10, 13 years, this entire time has been the greatest time to build the anticipation for my return into the Japanese MMA scene. That’s how I look at it.”
Asakura enters the matchup with a 13-5 RIZIN record and notable victories over former champions Luiz Gustavo, Kleber Koike and Chihiro Suzuki. The age difference between the two fighters also highlights just how long Aoki has remained active at the highest level.
“That reflects pretty well because a lot of the current fighters have a dad my age,” Aoki said. “That thought itself is pretty crazy. I mean, I fought Antonio McKee, and his son is AJ McKee and he’s fighting on the same card. That itself kind of explains how time passes.
“I haven’t really felt like I’ve aged that much, but when you look at it from that perspective, yes, it seems like I’ve just become this veteran before I even knew it.”
Although retirement is creeping closer, Aoki has no plans to chase championships in the final stage of his career.
“I only have a limited amount of time left in my career, I know that, so I’m not about to use that time to try to go after a belt,” Aoki said.”If I were to fight abroad, I would want to fight somewhere where I haven’t fought before. So Brazil, for instance, and then Russia.
“And I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get the call or not, but it would be interesting if I got the call for MVP in the legend fight slot. That would be something that might be fun.”
