For ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat Gafurov, the idea of a superfight with fellow champion Shinya Aoki is still an interesting one.

Gafurov successfully defended his title recently with another submission victory, locking up a rear-naked choke on DEEP featherweight champion Kazunori Yokota at ONE: KINGDOM OF CHAMPIONS.

For the 31-year-old Russian, it was his fourteenth win in 14 fights, including the last five with ONE. All five of those victories have been submission wins – his patented rear-naked choke hold.

As for that much-talked about matchup with Aoki, the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion, that is up to officials.

“If the negotiations go good with (ONE Championship), I will be happy to challenge him,” Gafurov said.

View photos

Despite being a submission specialist with 10 tap-out victories to his credit, the Champion gym fighter from Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan was looking to showcase his other skills vs. Yokota.

“I really don’t care how I win the fight,” he said. “I was trying to use my striking this time, but it went how it went.”

If the champion vs. champion match with Aoki does not come to fruition, Gafurov sees someone else quickly working through the featherweight ranks as a contender.

“It might be Herbert Burns,” Gafurov, a man of few words, said of his next potential challenger.

Since signing with ONE, Gafurov has run through the likes of Ev Ting, Martin Nguyen, and former champion Narantungalag Jadambaa. All have presented different styles, but just like the rest, Yokota was unable to solve the champion.

“No, nothing [he did] surprised me,” he said of Yokota.

With such a stellar professional record, Gafurov does his talking in the cage, and it is plain to see he speaks very well.