Sage Northcutt accused Shinya Aoki of ducking him last week and the Japanese legend definitely isn’t having any of it! He clapped back at the UFC veteran on Twitter right now:
Aoki says he is ready to sign the fight contract right away:
すぐにサインして差し上げるから試合同意書をくださいな。ギブアップでやってやるから心配すんな。 https://t.co/uwHTCuHJSK
— 青木真也 Shinya Aoki (@a_ok_i) June 7, 2022
In the works
The Tweet can be translated as:
‘Give me the bout agreement and I’ll sign straightaway. Don’t worry, I will give up.’
Aoki has a tendency to play down his own abilities and admit to being scared or intimidated by opponents. It is a tactic the two time ONE Championship lightweight champion has been employing for years.
The fight was originally booked for ONE on TNT last year. But Northcutt withdrew and Aoki ended up facing, and beating, Eduard Folayang.
It now appears to be in the works for ONE 161. This will be the promotion’s first ever event to be broadcast live on Amazon Prime and will take place on a Saturday morning in Singapore.
@a_ok_i I’m going to make you eat those words. Literally pic.twitter.com/99PdzeEE8X
— Sage Northcutt (@sagenorthcutt) April 29, 2021
Cordial relations
Relations between Aoki and Northcutt appear to have improved since the former used his Twitter account to tell the American to ‘eat s**t’. The UFC veteran promised to make him eat his words and there is certainly no love lost between the two lightweights.
It is a fight which would have mainstream appeal with Northcutt well known to MMA fans for his UFC stint. The photogenic American’s ONE Championship career hasn’t exactly gone to plan though, he was knocked out on his debut in 2019 and hasn’t fought since.
For many Aoki is the face of Asian MMA. He has been on top of the game for decades and fought for Pride before winning lightweight titles with both Dream and ONE Championship.
Yoshihiro Akiyama brought his 14-year rivalry with Shinya Aoki to a KNOCKOUT conclusion at ONE X!@akiyamayoshihir #ONEX #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/Rq0UeIM3bP
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 4, 2022
Devastating defeat
Like Northcutt he is coming off a devastating defeat. Aoki was stopped in the second round by his arch enemy Yoshihiro Akiyama at ONE: ‘X’ in what was a humiliating loss for the 39 year old.
Both will be looking to bounce back with wins and it appears they will get the opportunity out to do so on August 27th. It has taken nearly three years to put this fight together so there is still plenty that could go wrong between now and then.
But assuming everything goes to plan and the two lightweights do get to face each other at ONE 161 we are sure they will have plenty to say in the coming weeks. A lightweight grudge match is in the works and fans will be keeping their fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong between now and August 27th.
