‘I Have A Very Complete Style’ – Cole Abate Feels Ready To Adapt And Overcome Shinya Aoki At ONE Fight Night 26
“Ice” Cole Abate is embracing the unique challenge ahead of him at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulove on Prime Video. On December 6 in U.S. primetime, the 20-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu prodigy will make his hotly anticipated promotional debut against Japanese martial arts icon Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki in a 10-minute lightweight submission grappling bout at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Now one of the planet’s top BJJ black belts, Abate enjoyed unprecedented success as a teenager on his rise through the ranks. Understandably, his debut on the global stage comes with no shortage of fanfare and lofty expectations. The Art of Jiu-Jitsu product isn’t buying too much into his hype, though, and is instead focused on the task ahead of him. He knows that Aoki – the man who invented the famed “Aoki Lock” – is a legendary figure in both the MMA and grappling communities and will pose a serious threat.
Abate spoke to onefc.com about why he’s excited to face “Tobikan Judan”: “To be able to fight him in Asia where he’s got a lot of fans, where he’s known as a legend, where he literally has techniques named after him that you only find out that, ‘Oh, hey, the Aoki Lock isn’t just the Aoki Lock. There’s actually a guy behind it.’”
A consummate student of the game who has been training in BJJ since he was 5 years old, “Ice” Cole has carefully studied his foe and feels prepared to defend and counter his trademark submission – a modified ankle lock that twists the knee in a similar fashion to a heel hook. Abate insists he doesn’t fear the Aoki Lock. Quite the opposite, he’s looking forward to exchanging leg locks if the opportunity presents itself: “Knowing that there’s a submission named after the guy, you know exactly what to avoid. That should be fun. I like leg attacks as well. So if we do get into an exchange where we’re both looking to finish each other, it’ll be cool getting to share the mat with somebody that has their own submission named after them. I think that if we do get into an exchange where we’re both trying to finish on the legs, that’s something that I wouldn’t be afraid of, and I think would actually be interesting to get to feel his attacks.”
Indeed, the American is a talented leg locker in his own right. He’ll come into the contest fresh off a gold medal performance at the IBJJF No-Gi Pan-American Championships that saw him collect an inside heel hook finish en route to the top of the podium. Ultimately, though, Abate believes that his greatest asset is his versatility and his ability to attack from any and all positions: “I have a very complete style. So if I do need to go on top, if I do need to focus more on passing, back takes, sweeping, I feel like I can pivot midway through a match pretty well. I’ve had to do that before, and I feel like the more I compete, the more I’m learning to do that.”
Cole Abate has long been hailed as the most talented young rising star in all of BJJ – a true phenom destined to become one of the all-time greats. Given those expectations, it’s no surprise that he’ll feel his fair share of nerves when he makes his global debut against Shinya Aoki at ONE Fight Night 26. Wise beyond his years, “Ice” Cole said that he doesn’t shy away from those pre-match jitters: “I think nervous is good. You get nervous before every time you compete. But it gets to a certain point where you feel like you need those nerves. And if I go into a match and I don’t have those nerves, then it feels a little off. You wanna have that. That makes you feel more excited going into a match like that, and I believe that that’s when I perform at my best.”
Even though he’s likely considered the favorite against the Japanese veteran, Abate still feels like an underdog – like a child competing against an adult. It’s that inner mindset, he added, that fuels him to compete at his best when the lights are brightest: “Now is your chance to shine. Would you rather shy away and be this guy’s stepping stone? Or would you rather make him the stepping stone and just keep going forward and getting closer to the goals that you’ve set? That’s kinda always the mindset whenever I know I’m going against somebody that has more experience or has a different colored belt around their waist. Of course, I’m the black belt now, but I still feel like I have that underdog mentality in me, of being the lower belt or being the young kid coming up.”
