Sage Northcutt issues statement following withdrawal from ONE 165 fight against Shinya Aoki

Sage Northcutt has spoken out after being pulled from a ONE Championship card.

Northcutt had been scheduled to meet Shinya Aoki at ONE 165 on January 28. That plan went awry at the last minute, as the former UFC star ended up bowing out of the matchup. He was replaced by John Lineker, who was submitted by Aoki in the first round.

Taking to social media, Northcutt explained why he did not share the ring with Aoki.

RELATED: ONE 165 RESULTS: SHINYA AOKI SUBMITS JOHN LINEKER IN ROUND 1 (VIDEO)

Sage Northcutt Reveals Reason For ONE 165 Removal

In a post on his Instagram account, Sage Northcutt revealed that two of his coaches couldn’t make it to fight night. This ultimately led to Northcutt’s withdrawal.

Sage Nortcutt makes a statement via IG after withdrawing from #ONE165 last minute due to issues with his corner.

John Lineker replaces him to take on Shinya Aoki. pic.twitter.com/YXEhNBsOgY

— ONE Championship on SCMP (@scmpmartialarts) January 28, 2024

“I’m sorry to all my fans and to my opponent Shinya Aoki for not fighting tonight,” Northcutt wrote. “There were some last-minute visa issues with two of my coaches and they are on their way back to the US right now. One Championship offered to help by giving me a world champion Jiu Jitsu coach for a replacement, but not having my coaches that I trained my whole camp with out there with me to compete against arguably the worlds greatest MMA submission artist of all time wasn’t going to be best for me.

“Thank you Chatri and One Championship for trying your best to make things work at the last minute. Again I apologize to Shinya and everyone that was tuning in. I know that One 165 is an incredible card with incredible world class talent that everybody will still enjoy.”

Whether or not ONE will look to rebook the fight between Northcutt and Aoki remains to be seen. For now, Sage’s coaches will look to be hard at work to ensure their visa issues are cleared for the next fight booking.