Dave Meltzer: Akiyama is Damaged Goods

Tuesday, 03 March 2009 10:05

by Garv

Dave Meltzer has an interesting article on Yahoo Sports today. In it, he speculates that Yoshihiro Akiyama is perhaps "shot" and that the UFC may have just paid big bucks for "damaged goods." Meltzer on Akiyama:

After Akiyama was knocked out cold on December 31, 2007, by Kazuo Misaki, he has not been the same fighter. He is slower to react, which is the kiss of death against top competition. Fighting Entertainment Group, the promotion behind K-1 in Japan, was well aware of this, putting him against two non-fighters in his only matches this past year. Unless his reflexes suddenly snap back to pre-knockout levels, UFC is paying big money for a fighter who may very well be shot. ...the question is whether UFC has spent a lot of money purchasing damaged goods.

Wow, Meltzer is pretty ballsy, knocking the UFC for putting out the cash necessary to land Akiyama. But Akiyama is a name that people have longed to see in the UFC and I'm thrilled that he's finally here. I understand the plan is to build him up towards a title shot with Anderson Silva. Sounds like a great plan to me. Good luck, Yoshihiro Akiyama!