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The loaded ONE 165 card last weekend, which went down inside the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, received a massive blow during the event as ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt had to pull out of his lightweight MMA fight against the former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Aoki within literally minutes of the fight.
Because of the unfortunate turn of events, the world’s largest martial arts organization had to scramble for an alternative, and former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion John Lineker stepped into Northcutt’s place as Aoki’s opponent in an openweight MMA match.
Eventually, ‘Tobikan Judan’ made quick work of ‘Hands of Stone’ and defeated him in the opening round via submission to his 14th career victory under the promotion.
The 27-year-old American superstar has clarified his withdrawal from the massive pay-per-view event in Japan, citing visa problems with two of his coaches. Northcutt addressed this through a lengthy Instagram post, as he captioned it with:
“I’m sorry to all my fans and to my opponent Shinya Aoki for not fighting tonight. There were some last-minute visa issues with two of my coaches and they are on their way back to the US right now.”
The Evolve MMA and Team Alpha Male representative also explained in his post that he wasn’t comfortable fighting without the guidance of his long-time and most trusted coaches against Aoki. ONE Championship tried to fix this by giving him an alternative coach, but he politely declined.
Additionally, he apologized to the promotion and its global fanbase for not making it to the card, thus voicing his gratitude for the understanding that he received from everyone. Northcutt continued:
“ONE Championship offered to help by giving me a world champion Jiu Jitsu coach for a replacement, but not having my coaches that I trained my whole camp with out there with me to compete against arguably the world's greatest MMA submission artist of all time wasn’t going to be best for me. Thank you Chatri and One Championship for trying your best to make things work at the last minute. Again I apologize to Shinya and everyone that was tuning in. I know that One 165 is an incredible card with incredible world class talent that everybody will still enjoy”
Fans have sided with this decision from Northcutt as users @projectbattlefit, @powrightinthepisser, @bbbarlow97, and @avogadromert defended him from haters and voiced out their support for him by commenting:
“Non-fighters won’t understand this. Corners win fights. It makes a huge difference. IMHO, this was a good call on Sage’s part.”
“It is what it is. Can’t be mad at you.”
“That is understandable and unfortunate”
“Keep ur head high, u showed integrity for ur people, respect 🤝”
Northcutt missed the opportunity to compete in one of his dream matches and the chance to receive the $50,000 bonus
With this unfavorable incident, Northcutt missed the opportunity to fight the Japanese legend, and one of his dream fights never materialized. It has been speculated that this match could be Aoki’s last professional fight.
Apart from the opportunity to share the ring with Aoki, Northcutt also missed the chance to receive an additional $50,000 bonus from ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong; instead, the 40-year-old Japanese took home the incentive with his marvelous win.
