Sage Northcutt out of ONE on TNT fight against Shinya Aoki, Eduard Folayang steps in as replacement

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Sage Northcutt | ONE Championship Sage Northcutt will not be making his return this month.
MMA Fighting confirmed with ONE Championship officials that Northcutt has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming 170-pound bout with Shinya Aoki (46-9, 1 NC) at the April 28 ONE on TNT event due to lingering COVID-19 symptoms. Stepping in for Northcutt will be Eduard Folayang (22-10).
Northcutt’s father Mark told MMA Fighting that one of Northcutt’s symptoms is that he is dealing with blood clots.
His withdrawal and the new matchup were first reported by ESPN and have since been officially announced by ONE:

LEGEND VS. LEGEND TRILOGY
Shinya Aoki will now face Eduard Folayang in the final chapter of their historic rivalry on 28 April! @a_ok_i @efolayang #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship #ONEonTNT4 pic.twitter.com/v8HClJw49m
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 12, 2021​

ONE has also issued the following statement regarding Northcutt’s situation:

Due to lingering COVID-19 issues, Sage Northcutt is not cleared by his doctors to compete on April 28[SUP]th[/SUP] ONE on TNT IV. This is disappointing for ONE, Turner, but most importantly Sage and his family as they were looking forward to this and spent months preparing. Sage had COVID a few months ago and was doing his best to get himself in a good place but late last week the doctor, during his final checks, could not clear him.
​

Northcutt was set to compete for the first time in almost two years after losing his ONE debut by knockout to Cosmo Alexandre in just 29 seconds. The brutal finish left Northcutt with multiple facial fractures and he was unable to book a fight for several months. He recently told MMA Fighting that COVID-19 restrictions also delayed his return to competition.
This will be the third meeting between Aoki and Folayang, who was reportedly set to face Yoshihiro Akiyama on April 28 before “Sexyama” withdrew due to an injury. Aoki and Folayang each hold a win over one another, with Folayang defeating Aoki by third-round TKO in November 2016, and Aoki avenging that loss in March 2019 by first-round technical submission via an arm-triangle choke.
The April 28 ONE on TNT main card will air on tape-delay in the U.S. at 10 p.m. ET.
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.


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