Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight phenom Sage Northcutt, who also competed at 170 pounds, will no longer be fighting Japanese submission specialist Shinya Aoki at the upcoming ONE on TNT IV event on April 28 in Singapore.
The promotion made the announcement on Monday through its official website.
Northcutt has been battling a “Super” case of COVID-19 and will need more time to recover, leaving Aoki to complete his trilogy with Eduard Folayang. “Landslide” also needed a new opponent after the injured Yoshihiro Akiyama was removed from the card.
No question this is a frustrating setback for the 25 year-old Northcutt, considering his one and only appearance for ONE ended in eight facial fractures. A return date has yet to be established but as we saw with Khamzat Chimaev, COVID gives zero fucks about anyone’s schedule or timeline.
The ONE On TNT IV card will be headlined by the light heavyweight title fight pitting Aung La N Sang against Vitaly Bigdash. Elsewhere on the card, former UFC bantamweight power puncher John Lineker returns to action opposite Stephen Loman.