Sage Northcutt Drops Two Weight Divisions For Next ONE Bout
Sage Northcutt at 155 lbs is returning after his ONE debut at 185 lbs. The former UFC welterweight and lightweight will be returning to the 155 lb ranks. ONE refers to their 155 class as Featherweight and Northcutt last competed in ONE’s welterweight class (185 lbs). Super Sage suffered as devastating of a debut loss as he probably could have had. Northcutt was violently stopped in less than thirty seconds against Cosmo Alexandre. The first-round loss was Northcutt’s first time competing at 185 lbs and he had his orbital bone broken in right places.
As a result of the injuries and subsequent recovery process, Sage has been out since May 2019. In a transcription courtesy of MMA Junkie, Northcutt stated, “I’m still healing up, and I can’t wait to be able to get out there and fight again. I know it’s going to be a while, but I’m going to be strong and I’m going to go back to where I used to fight at 155. I was undefeated in the UFC in that weight class – I was 5-0 – and I think I’m just naturally more for that weight class. So instead of fighting at welterweight, what ONE Championship calls it at 185 pounds that I went up to, I’m going (down) two weight classes to featherweight (155). It’s going to be good.”
Sage Northcutt at 155 lbs
Technically, Northcutt went 4-0 in the UFC at lightweight with a 1-0 record in 160 lb catchweights (his first-round stoppage win over Francisco Trevino less than one minute into the first round at UFC 192). Still though, the point remains that Northcut seems to be at his best competing south of 170 or 185. ONE recently announced a slew of event cancellations, so Northcutt’s next fight date isn’t too clear. It also leads to some interesting questions about ONE’s weight cutting practices. All we know at this juncture is that Northcutt is aiming to get back to what he sees as the weight class he performs optimally at.
