Shinya Aoki has picked his last night in the cage, and he picked one of the biggest dates on the Japanese fight calendar to do it. The rest of the timeline gave us a 1000x humblebrag, a very loud request for a fight, and Conor McGregor doing Conor McGregor things in somebody else’s mentions.
Shinya Aoki (@a_ok_i)
Aoki dropped the news himself on X, sharing a post headlined with his own retirement and a line spelling out the plan: he will retire from MMA on New Year’s Eve in a fight against Taisei Sakuraba. Aoki has never been a guy who leaves quietly, and a random card in October was never going to get the honor. He’s going out on New Year’s Eve, which in Japan is the fight equivalent of headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, and he’s doing it against a name that will put every eyeball in the country on the cage.
Danny Sabatello (@ShockThisWorld)
Sabatello posted the most engaged message of the day, and it was a single Japanese phrase saying he wants to fight, followed by a wall of exclamation points long enough to need its own walkout song. He didn’t tag anybody or say who he wants, so I’m not going to pretend I know, but a guy posting in Japanese with that much punctuation is clearly trying to get the attention of someone over there. Respect the energy. Somebody give this man a phone number.
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Hiromasa Ougikubo (@Hiromasa0401)
Ougikubo had kind words for two other fighters, giving Shinryu and Laramie credit for a good fight. Then came the part that stings a little. He wrote that he wants to heal his injury quickly and make his comeback. Watching other people put on a good scrap while you’re stuck rehabbing is its own special kind of torture, and you can feel it in two sentences.
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Salahdine Parnasse (@SalahdineP)
Parnasse went full motivational poster, telling his followers to never let where they come from limit how far they can go, with a globe emoji and a link. No callout, no beef, no fight announcement. It’s the kind of post that ends up on a gym wall in a nice font, and honestly, some days the timeline needs one of those between all the trash talk.
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Tatsuya Kawajiri (@CRUSHER_MMA)
This is my favorite post of the day. Kawajiri congratulated someone he calls Tsuka-chan on what he described as the best possible major debut, posting under the #RIZIN55 hashtag. Then he immediately ruined the wholesome moment in the best way, adding that he himself was 1000 times stronger, but he’s looking forward to what comes next. That is the most veteran sentence ever typed. Congratulations, kid, I’m still better than you. Every gym has this guy, and every gym needs him.
Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
Muhammad quote-posted historian Assal Rad, who wrote that she was done thinking of herself as controversial for not wanting babies to freeze in cold, wet tents. Belal backed Ms. Rachel, saying she isn’t pushing an agenda and is showing humanity, and adding that no child should be freezing, starving or suffering and nobody should have to apologize for caring. Belal has never been shy about using his platform off the mat, and this one drew plenty of engagement from his followers.
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Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA)
BKFC voice Del Souness posted a teaser for Sean Weir against an opponent listed only as a question mark, tagged #IbroxBKFC, and McGregor jumped in to declare that he is the best at this and his day will come. That’s it. No opponent, no date, no context. I want to be very clear that nothing in that post says McGregor is fighting anybody at Ibrox, so don’t go booking flights to Glasgow. But Conor replying to a question mark with a declaration of greatness is peak Conor, and the question mark is still sitting there unanswered.
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Aoki fights Sakuraba on New Year’s Eve, and that’s the one to circle.
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