Why didn't Sage Northcutt fight at ONE 165?

Sage Northcutt's run in ONE Championship has been marred with a lot of really bad luck. And that bad luck looks to have continued into ONE 165.

Northcutt was scheduled to fight Shinya Aoki on the main card, and wa win would have set him up nicely to challenge for the title. Unfortunately he never made it to the ring and was unable to compete just hours before the fight was set to begin.

During the broadcast, it was revealed that due to “unforeseen circumstances with his cornermen” he would not compete and former ONE champion John Lineker would fill in. Lineker had weighed in as a backup just the day before.

Unsurprisingly the much smaller short-notice fighter lost fairly quickly to the highly experienced veteran weighing at least 20 pounds heavier.

Northcutt took to social media to announce what exactly happened to his corners and why he didn't compete.

"“I’m sorry to all my fans and to my opponent Shinya Aoki for not fighting tonight,” Northcutt wrote on Instagram. “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.”

ONE 165 full results

• Superlek Kiatmoo9 defeated Takeru Segawa via unanimous decision [kickboxing]
• Kade Ruotolo defeated Tommy Langaker via unanimous decision [grappling]
• Shinya Aoki defeated John Lineker via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 3:00
• Nieky Holzken defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO — Round 1, 1:40 [custom rules]
• Marat Grigorian defeated Sitthichai via TKO — Round 3, 1:20 [kickboxing]
• Garry Tonon defeated Martin Nguyen via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 4:41
• Ayaka Miura defeated Itsuki Hirata via unanimous decision
• Yuya Wakamatsu defeated Danny Kingad via unanimous decision
• Rade Opacic defeated Iraj Azizpour via unanimous decision [kickboxing]
• Bokang Masunyane defeated Keito Yamakita via unanimous decision
• Gustavo Balart defeated Hiroba Minowa via split decision

There's been no updated about when or if Northcutt will be rebooked to fight.

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