Sage Northcutt looking for several fights this year ahead of ONE Championship comeback

Sage Northcutt is looking to make up for lost time.

The American was once one of the darlings of the UFC having been discovered fighting on LFA on an episode of Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight. He was soon offered a UFC contract  as a teenager and amassed a 6-2 record inside the Octagon before signing with ONE Championship in 2018.

The Sacramento-native had a nightmare debut inside the ONE Circle. Up against Muay Thai champion Cosmo Alexandre and competing at 185 lb for the first time in his career, the debutant suffered a brutal first-round knockout and shattered his orbital bone in the process.

Having endured a false dawn in 2021 where he was forced to pull out of a would-be comeback clash with Shinya Aoki due to health issues, Northcutt looks set to finally return to action when he takes on Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10.

Sage Northcutt is back.

4 years after a brutal 30 second KO by Cosmo Alexandre, he’ll face Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5 – ONE Championship’s US debut. pic.twitter.com/pQhh1B0YzK

— Nicolas Atkin (@NicoSCMP) January 23, 2023

Having missed out on several crucial years of competing, the 26-year-old says he plans to be super active.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Northcutt said,

“If I get the opportunity I would love to have a couple more fights this year. I would love to be super active. I wanna knock out a couple of fights this year with ONE Championship and have great performances. That’s what I’m shooting for.”

The event will take place at the 1stbank Center in Colorado in what will be an historic first-ever show in North America for the organisation, and will be headlined by Demtrious Johnson defending his flyweight title in a trilogy bout with Adriano Moraes.

“You have an incredible fighter, Demetrious Johnson, headlining the card, so the card’s gonna be super exciting, especially for the first card in the U.S. I’m so excited,” said Northcutt, who is relishing the chance to fight on home soil against and added, “Oh man, I’ll tell you what, it feels so good to be back. It’s been a while. I’ve been itching to get back. Not only that, getting the fight in the United States, the first US card for ONE Championship, I couldn’t be more excited for that.”

Northcutt not only hasn’t competed in several years, but his last win was back in 2018. In contrast, his Pakistani opponent is coming off of back-to-back wins and with his last outing ending in a first round submission victory as recently as November.

Despite doubts surrounding his readiness for a return, Nortcutt assures fans the he’s good to go.

“A lot of people will be thinking ‘Hey, Sage might have some ring rust’ (because) it’s been three-and-a-half years, it’s a little bit of time but I’ve been training, I’ve been staying sharp. I feel like I’ve improved in a lot of different areas, I’m looking forward to showing it.”

Are you excited to see a Sage Northcutt comeback?