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Now healthy and battle-ready, American martial artist Sage Northcutt said his focus in ONE Championship is to position himself for a world title shot.
‘Super’ Sage made a successful return to competition after nearly four years on the sidelines for various medical issues last May at ONE’s first-ever live on-ground event in the United States.
He was impressive in his comeback, making short work of Pakistani fighter Ahmed Mujtaba by way of submission (heel hook) just 39 seconds into their scheduled three-round lightweight MMA clash.
Now back in harness, Sage Northcutt said his ONE campaign moving forward is anchored on getting a world title shot and he is willing to take on anybody put in front of him on his way to his goal.
The 27-year-old Evolve MMA/Team Alpha Male athlete shared this in a recent 'Ask Many Anything' session on Reddit hosted by ONE Championship:
“I don't actually have a dream opponent but my goal is to fight and win the title with whoever is holding it when my time comes.”
Sage Northcutt booked against Shinya Aoki at ONE 165
Sage Northcutt next makes the walk at ONE 165 against Japanese legend Shinya Aoki later this month in Tokyo. It is a match he always wanted to happen, even when he was away from competition because of various medical issues.
The lightweight MMA match was one of the first fights announced for the event, which will mark ONE Championship’s long-awaited return to Japan.
Northcutt and Aoki were initially to battle in 2021 but COVID-19, which the American fighter contracted, prevented it from happening.
When plans for the fight to be staged again were being made last year, ‘Super’ Sage said he was down for it, telling The MMA Superfan in an interview:
“Well as you know we had a fight set before this, it was a little while back, before I fought Ahmed and we were set to fight. That fell through and then I had my fight against Ahmed recently and you know it's time to have that fight. It's been in the works for a while now …”
Check out what he had to say below:
ONE 165 is headlined by the title clash between ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Japanese superstar and ONE-debuting Takeru Segawa. It will take place on January 28 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
