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#4. ONE Championship lightweight bout against Timofey Nastyukhin
From a match-up standpoint, this ONE Championship lightweight fight does a lot for both fighters' stock. Russian berzerker Timofey Nastyukhin is coming off 2021's Fight of the Year against Dagi Arlanaliev.
Despite a losing effort, Nastyukhin proved that he has a heart of a thousand lions and will come down swinging no matter what.
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Both Nastyukhin and Northcutt are coming off losses but their stocks are still up. Northcutt would benefit a lot out of beating someone of Nastyukhin's caliber and reputation.
Nastyukhin is a tough veteran with knockout power and an aggressive, devil-may-care style. If Northcutt wants to showcase his full arsenal of MMA tricks, this is the perfect opponent to bring that out.
A win over an ultra-tough and dangerous veteran could definitely benefit Northcutt's career resurgence.
#3. ONE Championship lightweight fight against former champion Shinya Aoki
Now, this may not make much sense as former ONE lightweight champion Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki is on a four-fight winning streak. Star power and marketability-wise, however, this one's gold.
The two were already set to face each other last year, but Northcutt had to pull out due to residual effects of catching COVID-19. Aoki instead had a trilogy fight with Eduard 'The Landslide' Folayang and won via submission.
Aoki is one of the most decorated grapplers in MMA and has seen it all, having fought for almost two decades now.
His mastery of the ground game could pose a serious challenge for Northcutt, as the American has had trouble with grapplers before. UFC fighters, namely Mickey Gall and Bryan Barbarena, took Northcutt into deep waters and submitted him on the ground.
If Northcutt were to survive and repell Aoki's ground attacks, however, he'd have a good chance of winning. The former ONE lightweight champion is notorious for heavily relying on his jiu-jitsu at the expense of other areas of MMA. Northcutt could take advantage of that.
Aoki is certainly the most high-profile and, as of late, most successful opponent on this list. If 'Super' could beat Aoki in the biggest event in ONE Championship history, it would definitely propel him back to legitimacy.
