Tag: ONE Championship 165

Video: Garry Tonon scores nasty, first-round rear-naked choke at ONE 165

Watch Garry Tonon pick up another submission win at Sunday’s ONE 165.

[autotag]Garry Tonon[/autotag] continues his campaign back to the ONE championship featherweight title.

The grappling standout picked up a first-round submission win over Martin Nguyen on the main card of ONE 165 on Sunday in Tokyo. Tonon sank a nasty rear-naked choke at the 4:41 mark to get the tap. The 32-year-old also won a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his finish.

Below, you can watch Tonon’s submission win:

Tonon now is on a three-fight wining streak, all by submission, since his first professional defeat in 2022 when he challenged for the ONE featherweight title.

Tonon told MMA Junkie, in the lead up to the event, that he hoped to secure another title shot with a win at ONE 165.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420034041]

ONE 165: Sage Northcutt pulls out, so Shinya Aoki taps John Lineker in open-weight bout

After a bizarre circumstance, Shinya Aoki submitted John Lineker in the first round in a fight Lineker took on just a few hours’ notice.

ONE 165: Sage Northcutt pulls out, so Shinya Aoki taps John Lineker in open-weight bout

After a bizarre circumstance in Tokyo, Shinya Aoki submitted John Lineker in the first round in a fight Lineker took on just a few hours’ notice. That’s the ending, but how it got there seems unique even for MMA.

Aoki (48-11) was set to meet Sage Northcutt (12-3) in a 170-pound bout at ONE 165. The fight was the top-billed MMA bout on a card that, like most for ONE, offered matchups in disciplines other than MMA. But shortly before the fight, Northcutt pulled out due to “unforeseen circumstances” involving his cornermen.

With no welterweight available to fight Aoki on that short of notice, Lineker (37-11), who most recently fought at 135 pounds, stepped up for an open-weight shot at what would likely have been instant legend status in MMA had he won. But three minutes into the first round, jiu-jitsu wiz Aoki thrilled his home fans in Japan with a face crank submission.

Northcutt posted on Instagram in the aftermath of his pullout and said his cornermen had “last-minute visa issues” and those two coaches were on the way back to the United States. Northcutt said ONE offered up another corner option for him, but he didn’t want to fight without his core team.

Northcutt did not elaborate on when his cornermen tried to arrive to Japan, but regardless of when they were trying to get there, they couldn’t, and that led to his decision.

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

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2pB3ImLgOE

Northcutt was supposed to fight Aoki under the ONE banner in 2021, but pulled out due to COVID-19. It’s not yet known if ONE will try to put together an Aoki-Northcutt fight for a third time.

Sage Northcutt plans on ‘being ready for anything’ against Shinya Aoki at ONE Championship 165

Sage Northcutt knows Shinya Aoki is a grappling specialist and plans on testing him everywhere at ONE Championship 165.

[autotag]Sage Northcutt[/autotag] plans on testing [autotag]Shinya Aoki[/autotag] everywhere.

Northcutt (12-3) mets Aoki (47-11) on Sunday at ONE Championship 165 from Ariake Arena in Tokyo in what is expected to be Aoki’s retirement fight. Northcutt originally was scheduled to fight Aoki in April 2021, but lingering effects from COVID-19 forced him out.

Four years after his brutal 29-second KO loss to Cosmo Alexandre in 2019, Northcutt returned this past May when he submitted Ahmed Mujtaba in 39 seconds. With Aoki on his radar for years, the Team Alpha Male fighter is ready for the submission specialist.

“I’ve been working my grappling for the past several years a lot,” Northcutt told MMA Junkie Radio. “Great grapplers, great teammates, great coaches. So, I’ve been really, really preparing and training my grappling a whole lot to improve.”

Aoki, 40, has 30 submissions to his name. Over 60 percent of his wins have come by submission, but Northcutt showed off his own jiu-jitsu game when he tapped out Mujtaba with a heel hook.

“A lot of people know that Shinya is known for his grappling, but it’s not just a grappling match out there,” Northcutt said. “It is mixed martial arts. You have a whole different set of tools and same thing, it’s not just a striking match. So, I think really going out there and being ready for anything is very important.”

You can watch Northcutt’s full interview above.

[lawrence-related id=2640313]

Shinya Aoki vs. Sage Northcutt rebooked for Aoki’s retirement fight at ONE Championship 165

At long last, Sage Northcutt will get his opportunity to tangle with Shinya Aoki. It’ll be a big one for both of them.

At long last, [autotag]Sage Northcutt[/autotag] will get his opportunity to tangle with the legendary [autotag]Shinya Aoki[/autotag] – and it’ll be a big one for both of them.

Northcutt (12-3) will take on Aoki (47-11) in two months as part of ONE Championship 165 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Promotion officials announced the Jan. 28 matchup Wednesday on social media and said the fight will be Aoki’s last with ONE. ESPN first reported the matchup.

The 27-year-old Northcutt, from the Dallas area, was supposed to fight Aoki, 40, in April 2021. That fight was about two years after his ONE debut, which was a shocking 29-second KO loss to Cosmo Alexandre that came on the heels of his free agency move to the promotion after a 6-2 run in the UFC. But lingering effects from COVID-19 kept Northcutt sidelined, and it was more than another two years later before he had his next fight.

Northcutt submitted Ahmed Mujtaba in 39 seconds in May for his first ONE win and first victory at all since July 2018. He was one of the hottest prospects in the sport’s history when he signed with the UFC in 2015, and he made $40,000 to show with a $40,000 win bonus in just his second fight in the promotion – rare for a young fighter on his first deal with the UFC.

Aoki will fight in front of his home fans in Tokyo one final time. Currently on a two-fight skid, the legendary Japanese grappling wiz was on an 8-1 run prior to that. His resume is littered with bona fides, among them two ONE lightweight titles, the DREAM lightweight title and the Shooto Japan middleweight title.

Of Aoki’s 47 total wins, 30 have been by submission. That was Northcutt’s weakness in his first two setbacks in 2016 to Bryan Barberena and Mickey Gall, both of whom were able to choke out Northcutt. Although he’s fought primarily for ONE the past 10 years, his extensive experience also includes fights under the Rizin banner, Bellator, Strikeforce and Pride.