Sage Northcutt explains why he pulled out of Shinya Aoki fight in 2021

'Super' Sage Northcutt will be back in the ONE circle later this year on May 5. The American fighter was scheduled to face former lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki in 2021.

Northcutt pulled out of that fight due to contracting COVID-19. At first, he wasn't sure what was going on. In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, 'Super' explained what happened in 2021:

"It was super weird. So I caught COVID, being about three weeks out from actually flying out for my fight overseas. I caught it and didn’t even know from the first couple of days. I kept trying to train through and started getting run down."

After feeling unnaturally fatigued in training, Northcutt knew something was wrong and did eventually end up getting tested. The 26-year-old fighter continued:

"I ended up testing positive for COVID. I’m like, ‘I’m just about two weeks out from flying out overseas to fight.' So I was trying to work around that and trying to do that just ran myself down pretty bad."

See the full interview below:

Sage Northcutt's next bout is booked for ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video on May 5. He will be fighting on home soil in the U.S. as he is set to face Ahmed Mujtaba at the 1STBANK Center in Colorado. All the action will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for all Amazon subscribers across North America.

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Sage Northcutt looking forward to fighting at ONE Fight Night 10

Sage Northcutt has not seen action in the circle since his last bout in 2019. 'Super' Sage is highly excited to be competing once again in ONE Championship and also at home in the U.S.

While speaking in an interview with ONE, Northcutt discussed his May 5 return bout:

“Oh man, I’ll tell you what, it feels so good to be back. It’s been a while. I’ve been itching to get back. Not only that, getting the fight in the United States, the first U.S. card for ONE Championship, I couldn’t be more excited for that. You have an incredible fighter, Demetrious Johnson, headlining the card, so the card’s gonna be super exciting, especially for the first card in the U.S. I’m so excited.”

ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5 will be headlined by 'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson looking to defend his throne against 'Mikinho' Adriano Moraes.