“It fueled me up” – Sage Northcutt unbothered by Shinya Aoki’s cold nature ahead of ONE 165 clash in Tokyo

American martial artist Sage Northcutt received a cold reception from upcoming opponent Shinya Aoki in their first faceoff. However, he is far from bothered by it and is instead using it as further motivation to come up with a win.

The two lightweight MMA fighters will clash at ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru on Sunday, January 28, in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the marquee matches on offer at the event happening at the Ariake Arena, and it marks the return of ONE Championship to the 'Land of the Rising Sun' after nearly five years.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, ‘Super’ Sage shared what went through his mind with the kind of reception he got from Japanese legend Aoki, saying:

“I went to shake his hand during the faceoff to announce the fight and obviously, he was pretty serious as you can tell, he didn't bother even looking or shaking my hand. However, it's not something that bothers me. It seems like that's how his personality is and kind of his character looking at other fights. So it didn't bother me at all, if anything, it just kind of fueled me up and I'm excited for it.”

See the full interview below:

At ONE 165, Sage Northcutt is looking to make it back-to-back wins after his 39-second submission of Pakistani Ahmed Mujtaba last May in his return to action after a four-year hiatus for various medical reasons.

Shinya Aoki, for his part, seeks to defend home turf with a victory in front of the hometown fans.

ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru will air live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.

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Sage Northcutt looks to strike hard against Shinya Aoki

Sage Northcutt is out to strike hard against Japanese legend Shinya Aoki in their scheduled lightweight MMA showdown this weekend in Tokyo.

The 27-year-old Evolve MMA/Team Alpha Male affiliate said they in his camp have come up with what they deem is as an appropriate game plan, including punishing his opponent with telling hits.

Sage Northcutt told ONE Championship in an interview:

“I don’t want to give away what my strategy is, but I’m planning on going out there to try to hit Shinya harder than he’s ever been hit in his life."

Texas native Northcutt is seeking to pile up the wins after his ONE Championship journey was derailed by four years because of various medical reasons, including suffering multiple facial fractures in his promotional debut in 2019.

In his newly powered-up ONE campaign, he is determined to earn a world title shot at some point in the near future.