© Provided by MMAJunkie When Sage Northcutt makes the walk to the cage April 28, it will have been almost two years since he last competed.
Northcutt (11-3) faces Japanese MMA pioneer Shinya Aoki in a welterweight fight at ONE on TNT IV in Singapore, his first fight since getting knocked out by Cosmo Alexandre in his ONE Championship debut in May 2019.
The 25-year-old suffered numerous facial fractures, which required surgery and sidelined him for a lengthy amount of time. But as Northcutt gears up for his return, a lot has changed in the world. MMA organizations have had to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means Northcutt will be competing with no fans for the first time in his professional career.
Despite the changes and long layoff, Northcutt doesn't think it'll be a factor. Ever since he's been cleared to train, he's been putting the work in and is back at Team Alpha Male to prepare for his upcoming fight.
"The fans especially, the fans pump you up a lot," Northcutt told MMA Junkie Radio. "I feel being out there without any fans will obviously be different, but at the same time I'm gonna be ultra-focused, I can imagine. I've been training so many hours. I already hit a few hours this morning, going back again later."
He continued, "People saying ring rust, I mean, my last fight was only one fight and that was the past and the time being things were obviously shut down because of COVID, but it's kind of been like that all around the world. So hopefully I have no ring rust. I think I'm gonna be great."
Northcutt takes on submission specialist Aoki (46-9), who not only has more than three times his experience in the cage, but has scored over 60 percent of his wins by submission. In preparation for the fight, Northcutt says he'll be on the mats with some specific training partners.
"First off, I have some guys on the team obviously, but I have my coach Urijah Faber," Northcutt said. "He's got a few guys that'll be teaming up with me, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm gonna be as ready as possible. It's gonna be great."
He continued, "What I do know is that he's had 55 pro fights, and I was probably pretty young when he started fighting. If I was even born yet actually. He's a legend in the sport, he's been around for so long, great grappler, he was a champ eight months ago. Even though he lost his title, he won his las three fights after that. So a super skilled opponent and obviously has a lot of experience."
To watch the full interview with Northcutt, check out the video below.
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