MMA
Teco Shinzato Lauds Aleksi Toivonen’s BJJ Mastery
In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a lower belt ranking may not always correspond to lower skill levels – and that is true for ONE Championship flyweight Aleksi “The Giant” Toivonen.
While some of the most revered practitioners of “the gentle art” are often black belts, there are others – like “The Giant” – who have skills far beyond what their belt ranking shows.
Evolve MMA BJJ instructor Teco Shinzato, who coaches Toivonen and the Evolve Fight Team, ranks the Fin among the very best he has seen on the mats.
“He really impressed me. He’s a brown belt, but he is on a black belt level in skill,” Shinzato said.
“I’m telling you, I’ve been a black belt for 20 years, and him not being a black belt – I don’t know why.”
With over 25 years of coaching and competitive experience combined, the two-time Black Belt Mundials BJJ World Champion has a keen sense of identifying talent.
“Whenever I’m watching someone in BJJ, whether that person is a beginner or coming from a striking background in mixed martial arts, I always look closely at his or her expression,” Shinzato said.
“It tells me whether that person is calm or not, which is extremely important when it comes to BJJ.
“When you are calm, you make good decisions. When you get too emotional or excited, you start to give up spaces in BJJ.”
Toivonen’s patience and composure under pressure during the Evolve Global Tryouts in November 2018 first garnered him the attention of his coach.
“Aleksi’s grappling is really amazing. I love to see him training BJJ and he is by far the best grappler among the tryout guys,” Shinzato said.
The Nordic warrior from Finland then got off to a great start as he easily defeated ONE Warrior Series veteran Akihiro “SuperJap” Fujisawa in his first appearance inside the ONE Circle last July.
“Before his debut against Akihiro Fujisawa, we studied a lot about Akihiro. To be honest, I gave Akihiro no chance to fight against Aleksi,” Shinzato said.
“Aleksi is on a different level. He can fight with Akihiro standing, striking, or on the ground. The fight was very predictable, and Aleksi did his job well and submitted Akihiro after he took his back.”
Shinzato believes Toivonen’s commitment to both striking and grappling allow for a well-rounded skill set that can stand the test of time.
“He’s improved a lot in his grappling since then,” Shinzato said.
“He is really sharp in his boxing, especially since he started training with [WBA Flyweight] World Champion Drian Francisco.
“For his next fight, even if Aleksi fights by striking or grappling, he still has a high chance to win.”
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