Sage Northcutt will be back in action soon.
The former UFC prospect will return to the cage when he faces former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki on April 28. Officials informed ESPN’s Ariel Helwani of the booking before Northcutt confirmed it himself in a chat with the former.
The bout will be contested in ONE’s lightweight division which has a 170-pound limit.
Northcutt hasn’t competed since May 2019 when he suffered a brutal first-round knockout at the hands of Cosmo Alexandre in his promotional debut. That bout took place at welterweight (185 pounds) with Northcutt facing a bigger and much more experienced opponent in Alexandre.
It also snapped a three-fight winning streak for Northcutt who will now be looking to return to the win column in his old division and earn arguably the biggest victory of his career against Aoki.
Aoki is on a three-fight winning streak following victories over Honorio Banario, Kimihiro Eto and James Nakashima. In total, he has won seven of his last eight fights with his only loss being a TKO defeat to current ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee.
In addition to being a former ONE lightweight champion, the Japanese legend is also a former DREAM and Shooto champion.
What do you think of this fight? Is Aoki too experienced for Northcutt?