“Alan was a very tough fighter. The damage of the low blow in the beginning of the fight was quite strong. I thought that if he hit me there again I wouldn’t be able to continue the fight. I wanted to take a large break but there was confusion during the fight. I misunderstood the referee saying five minutes in English as five seconds, I continued the fight urgently but this took a big toll on the exhaustion of my physical strength. My eye got injured when I got downed on the first round by a left. I felt an abnormality in my eye after the end of the 1st round. One eye was closed so I didn’t know about my sense of distance. Because I couldn’t see any attacks from my opponent’s right side I received a lot of leg kicks from that side. I didn’t continue with the game plan, the only reason I won was my feeling that I really didn’t want to lose this fight. After the fight when I was in the hospital, Dana White came personally and told me first hand that me and Belcher’s fight was elected as the fight of the night. I was very happy…. Alan is the toughest fighter I have faced and I’m proud to have been able to fight him. I will devote myself from now on so please support me.”
– Japanese superstar, Yoshihiro Akiyama — who happens to have Korean roots — reflects on his Octagon debut against Alan Belcher at UFC 100 this past weekend with SportsNavi (viaNightmareOfBattle.com). “Sexyama” sustained some damage to his manhood in the early going courtesy of a low blow, from which he apparently wanted more time to recover but a miscommunication forced him back into action much sooner. Belcher then tattooed him with a punch near the end of the opening frame that cracked the orbital bone in his face. Akiyama persevered despite the injuries and was able to steal a super close split decision at the end of three round of action. The back-and-forth middleweight scrap earned “Fight of the Night” honors with Akiyama and Belcher each pocketing $100,000 in bonus money in addition to their base salaries.
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