Despite not being able to take down Yoshihiro Akiyama until the final minute of the fight, jake Shields made good work of his stand-up attack to frustrate Akiyama and walk away with a unanimous decision victory, winning 30-27 on all the judges’ scorecards.
Akiyama, who insisted on being referred to only as “Sexyama” by Bruce Buffer in the pre-fight intros, did land beautiful takedowns in both of the first two rounds but was unable to capitalize. Shields worked his one-two combinations well and landed repeated left kicks.
Shields finally took down Akiyama in the final minute of the final round, after being shrugged off repeatedly over the course of the fight. Shields threatened with a rear naked choke in the final minute, sealing his victory.
