LEGEND VS. LEGEND TRILOGY
Shinya Aoki will now face Eduard Folayang in the final chapter of
their historic rivalry on 28 April! @a_ok_i
@efolayang
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship
#ONEonTNT4 pic.twitter.com/v8HClJw49m— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
April 12, 2021
Lingering COVID-19 symptoms have forced Sage
Northcutt out of a proposed clash with Shinya Aoki
at One on TNT 4.
As a result, Eduard
Folayang will step in and face Aoki on the April 28 card at
Singapore Indoor Stadium. Promotion officials announced the change
on Monday. Folayang was initially slated to face Yoshihiro
Akiyama on the same card, but Aikyama pulled out of the event
due to injury. One on TNT 4 airs on live on TNT in the United
States at 10 p.m. ET and is headlined by a light heavyweight title
tilt between Aung La N
Sang and Vitaly
Bigdash.
The 37-year-old Folyang has fallen on hard times of late, losing
four of his last five appearances under the One Championship
banner. Most recently, he suffered a unanimous decision loss to
Antonio
Caruso at One “Inside the Matrix” on Oct. 30. Folayang
previously defeated Aoki via third-round TKO to claim the
promotion’s lightweight belt in November 2016, but Aoki regained
the title with a first-round submission in March 2019.
A former One, Dream and Shooto champion, the 37-year-old Aoki
enters the matchup with Folayang on a three-bout winning streak.
“Tobikan Judan” last appeared at One “Unbreakable,” where he
submitted James
Nakashima in the opening stanza on Jan. 22. Aoki is 46-9 with
29 submission victories over the course of his career.
Northcutt, who tested positive for the virus in January, hasn’t
fought since suffering a 29-second knockout defeat in his One
Championship debut against Cosmo
Alexandre on May 17, 2019. As a result of that bout, Northcutt
was
forced to undergo a nine-hour surgical procedure to repair
multiple fractures in his face. Prior to that loss, Northcutt went
6-2 during a UFC stint from 2015 to 2018.