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‘Super’ Sage Northcutt is dreaming big ahead of his third fight under the ONE Championship spotlight, and the talented lightweight MMA athlete has done everything he can to ensure he turns it into reality this Sunday, January 28.
The Evolve MMA and Team Alpha Male star meets former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Aoki at ONE 165, which emanates live from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
With less than a week before his fight against the Japanese icon, ‘Super’ Sage believes a victory over the MMA legend could lead him to bigger things. In addition, leaving the Japanese capital city with his hand raised would be an added bonus.
Speaking exclusively to The MMA Superfan, the 27-year-old said:
“It would be amazing, it'd be amazing to be able to go out here and get a win against a Japanese legend in Shinya Aoki. He's not only a Japanese legend. He's at almost 60 pro fights. He was an ex-champion for ONE, one of the longest champions too.”
Watch the full interview here:
Back-to-back wins on the global stage of the organization for Sage Northcutt would be a perfect scenario, but the cherry on the cake would be to wrap this contest before the final bell, be it via submission or knockout.
He added:
“To be able to get this win would be special, and if I get a finish, that’d be even more spectacular.”
Sage Northcutt views Aoki as "a big obstacle to overcome"
Although confidence is in his stride, Sage Northcutt would not take anything for granted when his three-round duel with ‘Tobikan Judan’ gets underway at ONE 165.
The multi-time karate world champion knows what his rival – a grappling specialist – brings to the table, and he does not want to be careless in his approach on fight night.
Sage Northcutt told The MMA Superfan:
“This is a big obstacle to overcome and the biggest fight I've had, yet. So, it's something that I've been looking forward to.”
‘Super’ Sage enters this fight off a fantastic submission win over Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10 in May last year. Aoki, meanwhile, has lost four in as many outings since 2022, last picking up a win over Eduard Folayang at ONE on TNT IV.
ONE 165 airs live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.
