“I’d like to be very active” – Sage Northcutt plans to make 2024 his most special year yet at ONE Championship

‘Super’ Sage Northcutt hopes to make 2024 his most active year under the ONE Championship banner.

After a sensational return to the Circle at ONE Fight Night 10 in May last year, Northcutt will look to secure his 13th career victory. He meets former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Aoki this Sunday, January 28.

Emanating from Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, Northcutt hopes he can secure what would be the biggest victory of his career, kickstarting what he hopes will be a year full of success:

“Oh, I’d like to be very active,” Northcutt told The MMA Superfan. “So I like to have this fight obviously, I don't want to jump past this fight right now, I'm focused 100 percent on this fight. But I would love to have the submission grappling match at some point or something along those lines."

“But right now, my focus is on my opponent Shinya Aoki, and getting this fight taken care of.”

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Sage Northcutt’s long road back to the Circle

Making his promotional debut in 2019, Sage Northcutt suffered a brutal 29-second knockout loss against Cosmo Alexandre.

‘Super’ Sage would sit on the sidelines for the next four years, dealing with multiple injuries and an especially difficult bout of COVID. Fortunately, the Evolve MMA athlete and Team Alpha Male standout returned to full health, and it showed in his highlight-reel comeback last year.

Sage Northcutt scored a 39-second heel hook submission over Ahmed Mujtaba, showing that he had evolved his skill set during his time away. He’ll need every one of those skills when he steps inside the Circle against one of Japan’s most accomplished and beloved mixed martial artists, Shinya Aoki.

Will Northcutt add another highlight to his young combat sports career, or will the Japanese MMA icon climb back into the win column against the highly touted Texas native?

ONE 165 airs live on Sunday, January 28, via global pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.