ONE Championship wants to make things right with Sage Northcutt.
The fighter withdrew from a highly anticipated bout with Shinya Aoki at ONE 165 this past January, with the broadcast team announcing during the event that there were “unforeseen circumstances with his cornermen.” Northcutt took to social media to address the situation, calling the promotion’s explanation “inaccurate.”
According to Northcutt, he was not informed that two of his coaches would not be allowed to corner him until close to the start of his match. He accused ONE of not keeping him informed about the status of his cornermen until it was too late.
ONE has now responded to Northcutt’s comments in a statement, calling the dispute a “misunderstanding” and claiming that the confusion was due to changes to how third-party visas are handled.
“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,” officials wrote. “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.”
Northcutt claimed that his coaches were in danger of could have faced legal action due to the mishandling of the situation. He also hinted that his withdrawal was related to “a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes,” vaguely referring to ONE’s drug-testing and weight-cutting policies, and the promotion’s “stability.”
ONE did not specifically address that portion of Northcutt’s comments, stating only that it wishes to “resolve this situation amicably.”
Read ONE’s full statement below.
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.
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