Sage Northcutt was set to return at ONE 165 against Shinya Aoki for his second fight after a long layoff. However, he had to pull out of the fight due to some unfortunate circumstances.

ONE Championship has officially commented on the incident involving Sage Northcutt at ONE 165 earlier this month.

Sage Northcutt’s last minute pull out from the ONE 165 event

In the promotion’s return to Japan, “Super Sage” was tasked to face Shinya Aoki in a lightweight MMA bout. However, it was announced during the broadcast that Northcutt had pulled out of the contest at the 11th hour, and Aoki would instead be facing former ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion John Lineker.

Fans were left confused at the sudden turn of events, but Northcutt later took to his social media pages to explain that his coaches faced last-minute visa issues and he chose not to compete without them.

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A few days later, the American once again posted another statement on his social media pages, this time in direct reference to how ONE Championship handled the situation.

The world’s largest martial arts organization has finally responded, in an official statement released from representatives.

The organization expressed optimism that they can resolve the matter amicably with Northcutt.

ONE Championship’s statement for the ONE 165 event debacle

ONE Championship released a statement responding to Northcutt’s claims about the unfortunate circumstances that led to him pulling out of the fight. The statement read:

“ONE Championship empathizes with Sage Northcutt in regards to the situation he faced at ONE 165, where two of his coaches were not allowed to corner him, leading to his withdrawal from the event. Due to a change in external guidance from a third-party visa consultancy on Certificate of Eligibility (COE) requirements for all cornermen at ONE 165, there were work visa processing issues leading up to the event, which unfortunately impacted multiple athletes.”

“The ONE team communicated the ongoing issues to our athletes and their management, but there was clearly a misunderstanding with the options presented to Sage and his team. Despite his recent comments, ONE values Sage’s partnership on a personal and professional level, and we hope that we can resolve this situation amicably.”

“We also hope our athletes understand that we were acting in their best interest in being 100% compliant with local laws, and that this was an isolated incident given our track record of successfully flying in athletes and their cornermen for hundreds of global events.”

Inside Details of the Chaos Surrounding Sage Northcutt and Shinya Aoki’s Fight at ONE 165 Revealed by Chatri Sityodtong

It would seem like ONE Championship is looking to clear the misunderstanding with Sage Northcutt. Given that they clear things out, when do you think that “Super Sage” will return to competition, and against whom? Let us know in the comments section below.

“I Honestly Don’t Know How Long I Can Keep This Up” – Shinya Aoki Opens Up After Submission Victory Over Last-Second Replacement John Lineker at ONE 165