Sage Northcutt hasn't fought since suffering eight fractures in his face following a brutal knockout loss four years ago - but he now makes his return to the cage in May.
Northcutt, 26, was one of the UFC's hottest prospects when he was picked up by the promotion as a teenager in 2015. 'Super Sage' was being pushed as the promotion's starboy thanks to his good looks, impressive physique and positive outlook on life. Things didn't go as planned when his hype was killed after being choked out twice and Northcutt ended up leaving the promotion in 2018.
In his debut for ONE Championship, Northcutt moved up a weight class to face veteran kickboxer Cosmo Alexandre in May 2019. The American was knocked out in the first round of the fight and underwent surgery for nine hours to repair the damage to his face. After a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Northcutt will now return to the cage for a ONE event on May 5 against Ahmed Mujtaba.
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"After my fight, even right afterwards, the very next day I was already planning on coming back. It did take a little while as a lot of people know for about a year plus, I was just healing up," Northcutt said on The MMA Hour. "So that took a little bit of time, for sure. But after that, I was full-blown training.”
“Having a loss like that and trying to come back on top of having an injury, 100 per cent it kind of gets to you a little bit. I try not to let it get to me too much. I’m glad this happened at a time when I was so young and didn’t happen later in my career. I have a full career ahead of me. It happened now, and it’s better than later.”
Northcutt switched between lightweight and welterweight during his UFC career, which is why eyebrows were raised when he moved up to middleweight to face Alexandre. The 26-year-old was already giving up a huge disadvantage in experience as Alexandre has over 70 professional fights throughout his combat sports career and Northcutt reflects on the loss as a big learning experience.
“It was more like a learning experience. Obviously, that weight class is a huge weight class. Looking back, I shouldn’t have fought at 185lb. I was new to the hydration test, that was a first for me. So fighting at 170lb that’s my natural weight. I'm right there close to my weight already and I’m three-and-a-half months out. That’s just a learning experience for me," he added.
