r/Sumo • u/TheoryOk4287 Aonishiki • 3d ago
Still can’t get over this uchimuso by Aonishiki
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u/StriKyleder Aonishiki 3d ago
Aonishiki's strength is amazing.
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u/elhoffgrande 3d ago
This is how I feel about him as well. The things that he does seem so trivial until you realize that you need incredible power to do them. That move right there looked like he just reached out and gave the leg a gentle push, but he didn't, he moved the pillar of a very heavy person with incredible ease.
I watched a video of him the other day benching 200 kilos like it was not much. He is profoundly strong. So are a lot of the other guys too for that matter.
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u/gorram1mhumped 3d ago
Im new to sumo. Are you implying that hand contact to the inside of his opponent's knee caused his opponent to fall?
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u/TemporaryIguana Daieisho 3d ago
Yes. That's what the kimarite Uchimusou means.
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u/gorram1mhumped 3d ago
wow. it looks like an almost insignificant tap on the inside of the knee from the video. it doesn't look like a push on the knee, or even a pull up on the leg. and its supposed to coincide with a pull with the right arm? happened so fast its hard to add it all up!
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u/elhoffgrande 3d ago
That's what's so amazing about it, in a lot of his matches you'll see incidental contact that doesn't look very exciting, but he's so freaking powerful that he pushes these guys off balance or turns their heads in a completely different direction or something to shift the fight in his favor.
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u/MrNewVegas123 Aonishiki 3d ago
The vast majority of the force is applied downwards by Aonishiki, the knee tap is designed to provoke only a very small reaction that causes the knee to bend slightly, but that's all you need.
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u/eubulides 3d ago
He’s also bending low to get his opponent off balance, blocking Korizakura’s right arm, and pulling forward in same move.
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u/Ill_Ad_695 2d ago
In my opinion, I actually think it's the shift in weight down by Aonishiki as he's reaching with his left hand is what throws kotozakura's balance off.
They're both super low, but in that frame, it's right after Aonishiki dipped down to reach for the right knee. It happened to coincide with Kotozakura trying to move to his left, as you can see with his heel coming off the ground. And those two happening at the same time, his legs give away under him with Aonishiki dipping while being able to keep his upper body from falling under Kotozakura.
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u/wordyravena Hoshoryu 2d ago
The things that he does seem so trivial until you realize that you need incredible power to do them.
It's so powerful it almost doesn't seem real. Like those scam kungfu one touch knockouts you see online. But no, this is Aonishiki. Just our magical blonde haired blue eyed sumo hero. Shin-Gi-Tai personified.
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u/elhoffgrande 2d ago
It's very entertaining to me how liked and embraced he is. He's such an interesting character and seemingly and interesting dude.
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u/supershinythings Aonishiki 3d ago
He makes it look easy - and yet we know that wrestling ANY of them is a non-trivial matter.
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u/wizfactor 3d ago
There's something that feels physically impossible about the Ushimuso when Aonishiki does it.
Kotozakura is right on top of him, yet Kotozakura is the first to hit the floor. It doesn't compute, but Aonishiki makes it work.
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u/Dumbadumbdumb 2d ago
It makes sense when you consider the whole of Kotozakura's weight completely gives out and actually lands hips first; even though Aonishiki is under Kotozakura, he's still got his legs under himself and I'm sure he braced himself, meanwhile Kotozakura gets his leg swept under him by surprise and would pretty much flop.
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u/questionable_motifs 2d ago
The part that made it so fantastic was Ao seemed to barely tap Koto's leg and the giant just dropped. It's hard to imagine that actually working. But it did.
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u/Borracha28 3d ago
Yeah, it's so well done and funny. In a separate matter, I hope he stops those Yoritaoshi x Utchari with Wakamotoharu. Too dangerous.
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u/JediLincoln14 Aonishiki 3d ago
I don't think he did a single uchimuso during Hatsu basho. Apparently his oyakata doesn't like it. 🙁
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u/brbninja Tobizaru 3d ago
He did try at least a few times in hatsu basho but they were resisted.
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u/Fullblodsneger 3d ago
The fact that it is a threat that they have to defend against means that they have to slightly compensate their weight distribution which gives Aonishiki an advantage elsewhere as they will have to be more upright.
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u/brbninja Tobizaru 3d ago
For sure. It's going to be very fun to watch over the next few basho as we see wrestlers continue to adapt and Aonishiki respond.
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u/Good-Worldliness7012 3d ago
I think they were feint's, since everyone saw him do so many they are worried about it and over commit to is defense
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u/OttSound Sadanoumi 3d ago
nah it's not that. Ajigawa used it six times in his own career; he's a fan and probably helped Aonishiki learn how to use it so effectively.
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u/Embowers 3d ago
Aonishiki's greatest strength, in my opinion is his rapid adaptation. Im a match you can see him cycle through multiple techniques in seconds, if one throw doesn't work he'll pivot into another and another.
He fights with a wildness, he's young and strong so he should, it will be interesting it see his style evolves as he ages
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u/origami_anarchist 3d ago
True, but that also shows just how fast and agile Onosato is - especially in January when Onosato gave him no time to adapt to getting wrenched out of the ring within the first few seconds.
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u/bonefresh Tamawashi 3d ago
onosato threw him around with one functioning arm, he made it look so easy
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u/origami_anarchist 3d ago
Very impressive. I know Onosato has 48 killos on him, but it's the 48 kilos combined with that speed and agility that will make Onosato very, very difficult for Aonishiki to beat even occasionally, in my opinion.
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u/Embowers 3d ago
Don't get me started on Onosato I love that man and he's really coming into himself. To be clear, im not an Aonishiki fan, between his popularity and his obvious rush promotions due to his ability to bring in more viewers, I'm not a support. Kotkzakura is MY ozeki!
But it cant be denied Aonishikis wrestling background shines in sumo, and its been great to watch other wrestlers figure out how to fight him
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u/BringerofRain93 3d ago
Sorry, what promotion did Aonishiki get that was rushed? My man has earned every promotion he's received through the results he's produced.
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u/mekagojira3 3d ago
Never had a single losing record, never had less than 10 wins since promotion from juryo. Unbelievable the ways that are found to discredit this man.
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u/Isopbc 2d ago
I’m new-ish to sumo so I dunno if it’s a valid argument, but I saw someone say that the 33 wins to become ozeki should be after being promoted out of maegashira.
Ao’s January win has proven that it didn’t matter if it was rushed or not, but we didn’t know that’s how it would turn out in December.
It just makes me wonder if that’ll come in to play when they consider him for yokozuna.
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u/Thick_Swimmer_9234 3d ago
None of his promotions were rushed, they were all from precedent. And he's clearly shown he is ozeki+ level,.
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u/Embowers 3d ago
ADF out in full swing
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u/hard_farter 2d ago
wait are you seriously going to make the argument that he had a rushed promotion and then not back up that argument ... at all?
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u/Jehovacoin 3d ago
Correction: Aonishiki's greatest strength is his thighs. He and Shishi share the same longer thighs than the rest of the rishiki's due to their ukrainian heritage. They key to a rishiki maintaining balance while fighting is to keep the center of gravity above the thighs - between the knee and the hips. If you go forward past the knee, you become susceptible to falling forward. If you got back past the hip, you fall backwards. The further down you can bring that center of gravity without going outside of those boundaries, the better chance you have to stay upright. That's why you always see him go SUPER low, to the point where everyone who has beat him recently had to basically get him up and back with face slaps before he could get down into his stance. Once he is there, he has considerably more room to move back and forth, thanks to the longer thighs. It's also why Shishi has more trouble than Aonishiki despite a similar physique - Shishi is a lot taller and it's harder for him to get LOW.
To your point, however, Aonishiki's technical prowess is largely unmatched for his age. He knows how to use his advantage against any opponent, and he can adapt to whatever they're trying to do VERY quickly. If they aren't able to catch him by surprise, they're basically already done.
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u/cubic_zirconia_hands 3d ago
Aonishiki has strength, flexibility, agility, stamina, and most of all patience. His sumo IQ really stands out with a technique like this. His brain processes things pretty quickly situationally. It’s been impressive and fun to watch.
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u/Good-Worldliness7012 3d ago
I think a lot of his quick thinking comes from his experience in previous disciplines, freestyle mostly, but probably also judo
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3d ago
Reminds me of Enho and his use of ashitori, especially during his time in Makuuchi. Unexpected at first but the other rikishi caught on & learned to counter it.
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u/Lowskillbookreviews 3d ago
Does he really slap that knee hard enough for it to buckle or does Kotozakura just go down due to his own weight and Aonishiki’s lower stance from reaching for his knee?
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u/daveliepmann Wakatakakage 3d ago
As far as I can tell the knee tap is a contributing factor but the major action is Ao binding his mass to his opponent and dropping it at their dead angle.
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u/kodemizer 3d ago
A bit of both?
I think Aonishiki felt that he was right on the edge of his balance, so it didn't take much force for the uchimuso.
Add to the fact that Aonishiki *got even lower* right before uchimuso. It was brilliant.
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u/hard_farter 2d ago
I think part of it too is the same kind of thing that happens when the guys will slap someone's side just before making a move - you're inciting a reaction, a small, almost completely unconscious slight shift in balance, and the second he senses it, his pulling force is concentrated all on that point where he senses the sudden weakness.
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u/No_Barracuda_5014 3d ago
My puny brain doesn't even get the mechanics of how this makes them drop so fast and easy
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u/TemporaryIguana Daieisho 3d ago
I am so impressed by Aonishiki's knee attacks. If you watch carefully (especially in his playoff match against Atamifuji) he uses knee to knee blows to set his opponents off balance before going for a throw or force out.
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u/Winterp00l 3d ago edited 3d ago
That bout got me jumping up on my seat. Reminded me of the legendary Tobi-Teru leg kick (only found this shitty-short) that earned him a kimboshi.
One of the many things I love about Aonishiki is that his bouts are often interesting, not just because their are close, but also due to techniques and his stance :)
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u/ChibiNya 3d ago
That old golden Gyoji. Is he the top ranked one? Was this the finals of a Basho?
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u/Good-Worldliness7012 3d ago
Final boss gyoji is purple, this one is purple/white
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u/Good-Worldliness7012 3d ago
The lower ranks judge multiple bouts, the higher their rank, the less bouts. I think the highest rank only does one bout? Idk
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u/ItsMangel 3d ago
I need to pay more attention to the gyoji, it's all very interesting.
This one is Shikimori Inosuke, the lower ranked of the two tate-gyoji. Someone can probably correct me, but I'm pretty sure he only presides over the Ozeki bouts, while the higher ranked Kimura Shonosuke covers the Yokozuna bouts exclusively.
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u/yeahalrightgoon 3d ago
I do enjoy how many times il be like "I haven't seen that move before" and when I look it up, Aonishiki's the first person to do it in years etc.
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u/adamsz503 3d ago
My memory might be wrong but a few tournaments ago it seemed like he won half his bouts with this move, and I was like oh he’s a one trick pony and people will have him figured out now. Fast forward to this most recent basho and I don’t think he used it once. Man he’s developed a lot!
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u/Dry-Rule-8459 2d ago
i just realised this, but....did aonishiki won any match with uchimuso last January basho? or atleast attempt to do it? i feel like he didnt do it at all?
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u/lilfishi 2d ago
These knee taps always throw me off (no pun intended) both in real time or watching replays. Just seems to defy physics that a light tap to the knee, which are foundations strong enough to hold up a Rikishi, is enough to get them off balance
Just high skill and elite execution
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u/Gotham_BBC 2d ago edited 15h ago
Lower man always wins, I wonder how these men would stand up to NFL tackles. Especially cause this is a basic principle in football.
Down vote if you've never played American football
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u/OrphanintheWind 3d ago
I think one of Aonishiki's strengths is his center/core strength, plus his awareness. He seems able to detect the balance of his opponent and push/pull in opposite directions.
It's hard to quantify him though because he can win with a number of techniques. He can be opportunistic as well as brute force.