What was David Gardner thinking?

We all knew Shinya Aoki was going to win by submission, but we didn't know it was going to be because David Gardner wanted to wave to everybody. Gardner defended the rear naked choke extremely well the first time Aoki got his back (so well, in fact, that Aoki gave up the back to try a different submission), but the second time Aoki got his back was just a disaster. What the heck, Gardner? You're in a fight against one of the best submission artists in the world and he has your back. Now is not the time to wave to the crowd and say "Hi, Japan." If he hadn't stuck his arm up to wave, Aoki wouldn't have been able to slide his own arm up and rear-naked choke him. It'd be like if in a bull fight, the moment the bull was about to charge, the matador threw down his red cape and then bent over.

NOTE: You can watch the entire fight after the jump, but skip to about 6:45 if you only want to see the end.

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UFC signs middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced today that it has signed middleweight contender Yoshihiro Akiyama to an exclusive promotional contract that will see him step into the UFC Octagon for the first time this summer.

"I'm excited to bring Akiyama into the UFC and I can see him making an immediate impact in the middleweight division," said UFC President Dana White. "Besides his great judo and submission game, he's a finisher, and UFC fans are going to love watching him because he always shows up to fight."

This is hugely interesting. Akiyama is sort of a controversy in Japan. He wins, but he gets booed because he's viewed as dishonorable (he was found guilty of greasing after a victory over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba). And you know if you get booed by the Japanese you've really done something wrong. But he's good. And he's Japanese (well technically he's a Korean born in Japan). And he fights in Dream, which means the UFC is serious about coming after the Japanese organizations. All of which probably has huge ramifications, I'm just too dumb to figure it out. The UFC...and...cookies? There's going to be more cookies? For me? For dinner? Yay, I did it! I figured it out! I'm the best!

Gegard Mousasi moving up to heavyweight

Gegard Mousasi, the 23-year-old Dream middleweight champion, says he has to start moving up in weight classes because his body is simply growing. He tells Sherdog:

"After the tournament, I took a break for 10 days to see my family in Armenia," says Mousasi. "I decided, 'Let's put on some weight.' I just start eating and I didn't train, and after that, I was 96, 97 kilos [216 pounds]. I gave my body a little bit [of] rest, and my body grow because of my age. I didn't let my body grow and now it grows naturally. I need to go up."

The growth spurt probably hasn't thrilled Dream executives, who had just crowned their first-ever middleweight king and a good one at that, but Mousasi says a weight cut at this point would be unhealthy for him.

"They wanted me to defend my belt one more time, but going from 216 to 185, it's not possible for me anymore," he says. "I have to move up."

He also says he wants to fight in America since it's the best place to show the world he's the best, and that in order to do so he'll bulk up the natural way and avoid steroids. He also says training with Fedor Emelianenko helped his decision to move up in weight classes because he simply feels bigger than The Last Emperor.

"Training with him, that's also one of the reasons I thought I can be a heavyweight," says Mousasi. "Standing next to Fedor, I feel so much bigger than him. When you train with him, he feels like a middleweight. He's as strong as a heavyweight but as fast as a middleweight, so I think that makes him special. If I can take my speed as a middleweight, have that explosiveness and mobility and move up to heavyweight, I think that's something a lot of them don't have."

He doesn't believe he's ready for the Josh Barnetts and Arlovskis of the world, but Mousasi does have an idea on where he'd like to start in the division.

"A type of guy like Paul Buentello," he says. "Big, tall -- some guy like him, because I think I can beat those guys. Big guys."

This is a surprising move, simply because Gegard Mousasi isn't that big a guy (he was 6'1" and 185 lbs). To go from middleweight to heavyweight is a pretty big leap, though if he can manage to keep his explosiveness and mobility he might actually have some success. It's just a little strange that he'd make such a drastic life decision simply because he was goofing around on break and decided to eat a lot.

Aoki and Sakurai confirmed for Dream 2009 Welterweight Grand Prix

Fighting and Entertainment Group announced today that Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki has agreed to move back up to welterweight to compete in Dream's 168-pound tournament, which begins on April 5 at the NGK Insulators Hall in Nagoya, Japan. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai has also been confirmed, and will join Aoki as the second marquee name to enter the tournament. Sherdog reports:

A source close to the situation has told Sherdog.com that FEG is hoping to pit Aoki against fellow star Sakurai in April's quarterfinals. Sakurai and Aoki met in August 2005, where a then-unknown Aoki took Sakurai to a hotly competitive decision.

There was a little speculation as to whether or not Aoki would move up to 168 lbs so it's nice to see he agreed. It's always a treat to watch him fight, since he does things you've never seen any other fighter even attempt. Plus the move up to welterweight should be good for him. I'm not saying he's skinny, but I met him in person once and when he turned to the side he completely disappeared. True story.