Shinya Aoki and Sage Northcutt are set to compete at ONE Championship 165 in Tokyo, Japan on January 28, 2024, a match initially scheduled for April 2021 but postponed due to Northcutt’s COVID-19 complications.
Shinya Aoki and Sage Northcutt have a date set for 2024. It’s a fight that’s been on the cards for a while.
The announcement came on Wednesday. The two will face off at ONE Championship 165, scheduled for Jan. 28 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. This isn’t the first time this fight’s been planned.
Originally, they were supposed to clash at ONE on TNT 4 in April 2021. But, Northcutt had to pull out. He was still feeling the impacts of COVID-19, you see.
Aoki’s stepping back into the mixed martial arts ring for the first time in a while. His last fight was at ONE Championship 163 in November 2022. It didn’t go well. Saygid Izagakhmaev knocked him out.
It’s been almost three years since Aoki had a win. The PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran has had a rough patch, finishing two straight.
Northcutt’s story is a bit different. He’s only fought twice since he left the UFC in 2018. His debut at ONE in May 2019 was brutal. Cosmo Alexandre knocked him out cold.
After a four-year break, Northcutt made a comeback. He’s 27 now and his return was quite the spectacle. He scored a 39-second submission win over Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10 in May. Quite the comeback, huh?