America's Sage Northcutt ruled out of first One Championship bout in 2 years after COVID complications

• Sage Northcutt ruled out of One Championship's April 28 event on US cable TV because of COVID.
• It would have been the American fighter's first bout since a first-round knockout loss in 2019.
• One founder Chatri Sityodtong told Insider that the 25-year-old can still become a global mega star.

American fighter Sage Northcutt has been ruled out of his One Championship bout this month because of lingering effects of the coronavirus, ESPN reported this week.

The chiseled 25-year-old was supposed to fight Shinya Aoki at the Singapore-based MMA firm's April 28 event on US cable network TNT, its fourth of the month.

Aoki will still compete at the One on TNT show but will instead fight Eduard Folayang for the third time, the company tweeted Monday.

Northcutt, meanwhile, will be made to wait for his first contest in two years as he continues his recovery from COVID-19.

"Sage Northcutt is not cleared by his doctors to compete on April 28," One Championship confirmed in a statement.

"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 once considered one of the most exciting prospects in MMA when the UFC signed him as a teenager in 2015.

He left the UFC in 2018 after six wins and two losses for the Las Vegas promotion.

Northcutt then joined One Championship. He fought his only fight for Chatri Sityodtong's company in 2019, but was beaten by Cosmo Alexandre by first-round knockout in May of that year.

"Sage still has the potential," Sityodtong told Insider recently.

"He has all the likability in the world, he's an incredible martial artist, and I could see him being a mega global star with just a few marquee wins."