“Shinya has been a champion” - Sage Northcutt says no special preparation for ONE 165, shows love to legendary Fedor Emelianenko

Being a professional combat sports athlete is no joke. The work that it takes to even become one in the first place is so great that only the most dedicated and strong-hearted ones will even consider taking the leap into making it a career.

Along the way, they will meet and gain fans as long as they continue to have great performances during their bouts. One such fighter who has enamored himself to them is ONE Championship star Sage Northcutt.

The Sacramento, California-born lightweight will be entering the biggest fight of his career on January 28 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, against combat sports legend and hometown hero Shinya Aoki at ONE 165.

Just a few weeks before the bout, Northcutt decided to spend some time with fans at the r/MMA Reddit forum to answer some questions, where user u/NaanSpecific had an interesting question of his own:

“Are you giving any special considerations to Aoki as an opponent given his infamously brutal treatment of Mizuto Hirota? Also, who's your favorite fighter from the PRIDE FC era?”

'Super' Sage responded:

“No, but Shinya has been a champion. Favorite fighter from [P]ride would probably be Fedor [Emelianenko].”

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Sage Northcutt checks one off the bucket list

Northcutt has been chasing after an Aoki fight for quite some time. They were initially set for ONE on TNT 4 in mid-2021, but Northcutt pulled out due to lingering effects of COVID-19.

A win over 'Tobikan Judan' will be the biggest in his career thus far and might lead him to even facing another ONE Championship legend down the line in the form of former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Eduard Folayang.

Check your local listings or visit ONE Championship's official website on how to watch ONE 165 from your location.