Sage Northcutt to drop down two weight classes

Weight classes work a little differently in ONE Championship, where extreme weight-cutting is not allowed. ONE’s welterweight division 185 lbs, not 170 lbs. It’s lightweight division is 170 lbs, not 155. And so on. This occasionally means fighters wind up in the cage with bigger opposition. Sage Northcutt certainly had that problem in his ONE debut.

Northcutt made his ONE debut in the welterweight division — 185 pounds. In this debut, he was obliterated by destructive kickboxer Cosmo Alexandre. The loss left him with significant facial damage that required intensive surgery to repair.

As Northcutt continues to heal and prepare for his return to the ONE Championship cage, he says he intends to change weight classes.

In fact, he intends to drop down two divisions to ONE Championship’s 155-pound featherweight division. Because the promotion does not allow extreme weight-cutting, that’s going to mean a pretty intensive diet for the ripped 23-year-old.

But hey, it’s probably worthwhile if it means he doesn’t have to fight any more 185-pound monsters.

“I’m not really thinking about any opponents right now, just thinking how I’m going to go down two weight classes,” Northcutt said (via MMA Junkie). “So my previous organization I was in, I was 5-0 at 155 pounds, so I’m going to go back down to featherweight.”

“I fought up at 185 pounds, so I was eating and drinking a lot to be able to get on some weight because I’m only 23, and I’m trying to put on some muscle, so now I’m going to go back down. I learned my lesson about fighting a weight class too big, going back down to 155, and it’ll be better for me.”

Northcutt also added that he intends to fight smarter in this new weight class.

“I’m expecting to be a smarter version of myself,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of, I guess, studying up of what happened in my previous fight, watching so many fights and stuff. So smarter me, a faster version of me, because I’m going back down two weight classes and a more dominant version, because I was undefeated at that weight class. I still am, and I believe I’ll be dominant there.”

How do you think Sage Northcutt will rebound from his tough ONE Championship debut?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/22/2019.