The English subtitles don’t show it but at 1:35 Aoki uses the word “gaijin” for foreigners. This literally translates as ‘outsiders’ and in Japanese this is the rudest choice of vocabulary, showing no respect. At 3:11 Kikuno uses the word “gaikokujin” in reference to non-Japanese which literally translates as ‘foreign country people’ which is more polite and shows respect. Although it doesn’t come across in the English language, where the word foreigner is mostly avoided, it shows a basic difference in the mental character of these two fighters and how they use their mother tongue.
Aoki, the younger of the two, and the one with the lesser respect in terms of MMA on the international circuit, especially following his embarrassing losses to Gilbert Melendes and Yuichiro Nagashima, clearly shows his contempt and immaturity with this choice of language.
Aoki obviously doesn’t care but the world is watching. He is loved for his incredible grappling skills in Japan but some now question just how long the ‘Baka Survivor’ (baka = stupid) will last in the MMA world.
Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers
The Strikeforce heavyweight fight between Emelianenko Fedor and Brett Rogers will stream live in Japan on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. here.
Fedor has become arguably the best heavyweight MMA fighter of our time, and although Rogers is a worthy opponent, Fedor has faced the toughest heavyweights in international MMA and always dominated.
Rogers seems to have the right attitude coming into this fight and one thing is sure, even though there is a lot on the line for their careers, neither of them will go easy. I’ll be watching closely!
