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American MMA superstar Sage Northcutt will have a career-defining showdown with Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki at ONE 165 this Sunday, January 28.
Inside the famous Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, 'Super' Sage will test his might against the former ONE lightweight MMA world champion and one of the most successful pure grapplers in the sport's history.
Despite the huge task ahead of him, Sage Northcutt is also looking forward to visiting the 'Land of the Rising Sun' for reasons other than the fight.
He told ONE:
“Yeah, absolutely. I'm planning on staying for maybe two or three days after, thinking about maybe going snowboarding. I think snowboarding is so much fun, I heard Japan's got some of the best plow there is to go snowboarding. So, definitely might do that. I'm looking forward to walking around some shops. When I was actually getting taken to the press conference, I saw these go karts and people were dressed up as, like, Mario Kart characters and they were driving around the city, so doing something like that too.”
Sage Northcutt prepared to deal with Shinya Aoki's legendary grappling at ONE 165
Fully aware that he's facing perhaps the most dangerous jiu-jitsu grappler in MMA history, Sage Northcutt and his team fully buffed his grappling arsenal. Come fight night, 'Super' Sage won't be a fish out of water against the iconic 'Tobikan Judan'.
He told The MMA Superfan on YouTube:
“I’ve put a lot of time into that. That's always a part of the game, no matter who I'm fighting. I'm always trying to improve and practice different scrambles, different escapes, different submissions, and, you know, I was thinking about it.”
Watch the full interview here:
If Sage Northcutt manages to submit the legendary Shinya Aoki, it might break the internet. In Aoki's 20-year pro career, no one's been able to submit him in almost 60 fights. Northcutt will indeed deserve some R&R if and when he pulls off this massive upset.
ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru will air live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.
