IT’S ON 😤 Japanese legend Shinya Aoki
faces off with American superstar Sage
Northcutt on January 28 in Tokyo! 👊💥 @a_ok_i
@sagenorthcutt
#ONE165 | January 28 at 6PM JST
🎟️ Tickets 👉 https://t.co/9BTfk5i7f8
🌍 Global broadcast details coming soon pic.twitter.com/l71TsJVwRn— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
November 30, 2023
Sage
Northcutt is gearing up to do battle with Japanese legend
Shinya
Aoki next year.
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Northcutt (12-3) and Aoki (47-11) will meet in a lightweight clash
at
ONE 165 on Jan. 28 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, which also
marks the promotion’s return to Japan. The card will be headlined
by ONE 135-pound muay thai world champion Rodtang
Jitmuangnon and Japanese kickboxing star Takeru
Segawa.
Northcutt parted ways with the
Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2018 for ONE
Championship, where his debut was spoiled by kickboxing veteran
Cosmo
Alexandre via a 29-second knockout. “Super” then went on a
three-year hiatus, only recently returning with a Round 1
submission over Ahmed
Mujtaba at ONE’s U.S. debut in May.
Meanwhile, Aoki hasn’t competed in mixed martial arts since
suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Yoshihiro
Akiyama and Saygid
Izagakhmaev in 2022.
Northcutt and “Tobikan Judan” have gone back and forth on multiple
occasions in the past, with a matchup almost coming to fruition in
2021. The former UFC fighter also recently said that he has been
solely focused on Aoki since his victory over Mujtaba.
“I’ve been really focused on Shinya since after my last fight,”
Northcutt told OneFC.com. “Post-fight when we
talked with all the media, it got brought up by someone out there
saying, ‘How about you and Shinya?’ And it got brought up that it
might possibly be the next thing. So since then, I’ve just been
thinking about that.”