Sage Northcutt dreaming of "exciting" and "awesome" opportunity to compete against Shinya Aoki in Japan

At ONE Fight Night 10, Sage Northcutt made his long-anticipated return to the circle against Ahmed Mujtaba.

Back in 2019, Northcutt stepped inside the circle for the first time and was defeated in 30 seconds. Suffering a devastating knockout loss, it has been an incredibly long road back for ‘Super’ Sage due to the injuries he suffered.

Going through a long surgery and recovery process that had him questioning whether he would ever compete again, things were finally starting to look up for the American in 2021.

Talks started to circulate about a potential fight between him and Asian MMA legend Shinya Aoki, which would serve as an incredible comeback.

Unfortunately, the delays kept on coming for Northcutt as he caught COVID-19 and was forced to pull out of the fight and take even more time away for his body to recover.

Finally back in fighting shape, his return against Mujtaba ended in swift fashion via a first-round heel hook that saw Northcutt get his hand raised under the ONE Championship banner for the very first time.

Now that he is back on the right path in his career at long last, ‘Super’ Sage can look to use this win to build momentum and erase all of the bad memories from the past.

During an appearance on the Fistivities podcast with Karyn Bryant and Renato Laranja, Sage Northcutt showed interest in running back one of his missed opportunities by finally facing Shinya Aoki:

“Oh, that’ll be so exciting. That’ll be awesome.”

Watch the full interview below:

Fans can rewatch Northcutt’s emphatic return to the circle against Ahmed Mujtaba via the free replay of ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video.