Sage Northcutt continues hot pursuit of Shinya Aoki, blasts Japanese legend on Twitter

Sage Northcutt is looking for a fight. The notoriously friendly MMA fighter has been aggressively calling out Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki on Twitter.

The US-born fighter recently posted:

"Hey Shinya [Aoki] One Championship says they’ve tried to schedule our fight since April and you won’t fight me now. What happened to your tweet a month ago that you wanted a bout agreement to fight me in August? Are you going to fight me or not?"

To which, the submission specialist responded on Twitter with, translated from Japanese to English:

"The story never came. I was waiting because I thought I could play in August. Hey, Yokata should eat sh*t for three years!"

'Super Sage' Northcutt made his ONE Championshop debut against veteran fighter Cosmo Alexandre. The American was knocked out in just under 30 seconds and suffered eight fractures to his face. Since then, he has not returned to the circle but is aiming for a comeback against former lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki.

Aoki is also coming off a loss. The former ONE titleholder faced 'Sexyama' Yoshihiro Akiyama at ONE X and controlled the first round before being finished in the second.

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Sage Northcutt and Shinya Aoki track records

Despite taking some time off for a much-needed recovery, Sage Northcutt is only 26-years-old and is a promising prospect. A comeback fight against Aoki is ambitious given how dangerous and skilled the Japanese fighter is.

The Japanese MMA fighter's history in the sport traces back 20 years. As a grappling specialist, he's won 65 percent of his victories by way of submission stoppage.

Impressively, Aoki is a third-degree black belt in judo and a black belt in jiu jitsu. Additionally, he has held world titles in nearly every organization he has competed in, most notably ONE Championship.

Aoki has 58 fights in his 20-year career and is nearly in his forties. Despite his mortality becoming an increasing factor in his longevity, the martial artist shows no signs of stopping. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Aoki explained his outlook on his future in MMA. He elaborated and said:

“I do not want to work in a regular job, I just want to concentrate on martial arts. I want to keep being a martial artist for as long as possible. I want to keep doing it forever.”