Kiwi lightweight Ev Ting is set to measure himself against one of MMA's most iconic fighters.
The Aucklander will square off with Japan's Shinya Aoki at ONE Championship: Kingdom of Heroes in a lightweight title eliminator in Bangkok on October 6.
Aoki - a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and former ONE and DREAM world champion- is considered one of the sport's elite grappling exponents.
A figurehead of the now defunct Pride Fighting Championship – one of MMA's pioneering and most hallowed promotions - the 35-year-old is a true veteran, amassing a mammoth 41-8 record across his 15-year professional tenure.
While Ting (16-4) admits it will be an honour to share the ring with a competitor of Aoki's pedigree, it's a bout which comes with a slightly sour aftertaste.
"I was a little bit gutted that there was no belt on the line, "Ting told Newshub. "Not even an interim."
"But I had no hesitation to sign. I'm honoured to fight Shinya….I feel like he's the bigger and better fight anyway, so I think it's a win-win."
And "E.T" has reason to feel a touch perturbed.
Amid a three-fight win streak since his razor-close loss against Eduard Folayang for the lightweight belt, his path back to another title shot has been derailed by champion Martin Nguyen's quest to conquer multiple divisions.
Nguyen essentially put the lightweight division on hold while he attempted to add the featherweight and bantamweight straps to his collection.
But Ting will finally get his wish if he's able to defeat Aoki, with the winner to advance to face Nguyen at ONE Championship's blockbuster card in Tokyo in March, where "The Situ-Asian" will defend his lightweight belt for the first time since winning it in November.
Of course, Ting's focus remains on the formidable task that lies directly ahead of him, preparing a plan to nullify Aoki with one critical directive – staying on his feet.
"He can be very dangerous if you give him certain positions. Obviously my goal is to sprawl and brawl.
"I've been working a lot of BJJ. I trust my instructors here at Auckland MMA – we have two black belts that come in regularly who are beyond world class.
"It's a good fight for me. He's kind of one-dimensional, but I think it's more exciting than fighting a brawler.
"Shinya will pose a threat but he's got to get me to a certain position to present that threat, and he's not going to get there."
Aoki's last opponent, Shannon Wiratchai, may disagree. The Thai prospect wilted under a flurry of vicious elbows to become Aoki's second-straight victim since a loss to Ben Askren in November.
With Aoki upheld as borderline royalty in Japan, Ting realises it's up to him to spoil his potential homecoming.
"My role is to play the bad guy. I'm here to ruin the party and upset their plans. Guess I just have to embrace my role as a villain."
Two of his past three wins have come against Japanese fighters and the Kiwi-Malay has no doubt that he's going to add to that tally in Bangkok.
"This is the third top Japanese fighter I'm going to destroy. From my last 10 fights at least 8 or 9 of them went to the hospital and I barely got bruised.
"My fights may not be first round finishes but I'm clinically putting these guys away."
Bunkering down at his beloved Auckland MMA as he prepares for arguably his toughest test yet, the 29-year-old knows the magnitude of the opportunity he's been presented with and he intends to take full advantage.
The stakes are high but the best is yet to come, says Ting.
"Mentally and physically, I'm healthy and hungrier than ever to show people that I can hang with these guys. I'm going to keep shocking everyone.
"Shinya is the fight I want to prove to the world, not just ONE Championship, that I'm the real deal.
"That's my focus right now. October in Bangkok for that 15 minutes. For the next six weeks that's all I can think about."
ONE Championship continues its ground-breaking approach to the world of combat by headlining the event with a boxing match with local hero Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who'll defend his WBC Flyweight World Championship against Iran Diaz of Mexico.
Newshub.
