MMA's Once-Top Prospect Ready For Return After Four-Year Absence

When Sage Northcutt burst onto the mixed martial arts (MMA) scene in 2014 at age 18 with a decorated background in karate, the hype train was in full effect thanks to his easily marketable looks and high upside.

But when faced with winnable bouts in the UFC against Bryan Barbarena and Mickey Gall in January and December of 2016 respectively, public opinion of his MMA future turned into concern as he was forced to submit by both men.

The UFC did not decide to re-sign him in 2018 and allowed him to sign with ONE Championship with no frills and made his debut against Cosmo Alexandre at ONE: Enter the Dragon in May 2019.

Northcutt suffered the most devastating loss of his young career thus far as he was promptly knocked out 29 seconds into the fight and suffered eight facial fractures.

Four years since the harrowing injuries, Northcutt is ready to make his return to the cage and will face ONE Championship veteran Ahmed Mujtaba on the undercard of ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5–the combat sports organization's maiden debut in the United States.

Northcutt spoke about his long absence from the fight game and what it means for his career.

"By the time I have this fight, it will be four years in May, so that was a long time ago. But what I can say is I'm only 26 years old right now, and came into this sport of mixed martial arts very young," Northcutt said of his MMA future.

"Being 26 years old right now, I'm still extremely young so I'm looking forward to a long and successful career."

Originally, Northcutt's return was supposed to happen two years ago at ONE on TNT 4 on April 28, 2021, but he was forced to withdraw from the bout against MMA legend Shinya Aoki due to the lingering effects of COVID-19.

"Super Sage" later added that he has been training and took care of a "few personal things" during his time away and is now set to have his return fight on home soil.

"It's going to be exciting getting back in there. I'll only be 26 years old, having 14 professional MMA fights, so I'm super excited. I feel like I'm just getting started and I'm still so young that I can have a lot of fights," Northcutt added.

"I'm really excited to be fighting for ONE Championship for the first U.S. card. I think that's really cool."

ONE Fight Night 10 will be headlined by the trilogy fight between ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes, with Rodtang Jitmuangnon's defense of the flyweight Muay Thai title against Edgar Tabares as the co-main event.