Sage Northcutt hides behind waterfall to avoid bear attack
‘Super’ Sage Northcutt will meet MMA and grappling legend Shinya Aoki at ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru, a pay-per-view event taking place at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, January 28.
The American phenom Northcutt squares off against the Japanese martial arts sensation Aoki in a highly anticipated lightweight MMA battle under the ONE Championship banner.
Ahead of the bout, Northcutt spoke to ONE officials where he discussed nearly coming face-to-face with a bear in the wilderness.
“There have been some crazy moments,” Northcutt said. “Like, I went up to this spot on the way to Tahoe. It was years back actually. It’s a 100-foot waterfall. And I off-roaded out there. I kind of climb up the rocks to get around it. I was by myself, for the first time exploring it. I probably should brought some friends, or at least brought a knife or something [laughs]. The sun was setting, I was walking back, and I had several miles to walk back. Everything got really quiet and then I heard this noise. This was years back when I first got to California.”
“I didn’t know too much about bears. I didn’t see anything, but I heard something pretty serious. I thought it was a bear. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m pretty certain. So I hid behind the waterfall. It was freezing water. Super cold. I hid behind the waterfall like Rambo and I was behind the waterfall for maybe 15 minutes straight. The sun was going down, it was getting dark, and I had no cell service. I waited and then all of a sudden, I, like, looked out. I was looking around, like, I think I’m good. I just sprinted. I don’t even know how many miles it was. It was probably a couple of miles. As fast as I can go, probably the hardest cardio I’ve done, and just made it to my truck and I left. But that was pretty memorable, I don’t think I’m going to forget that.”
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ONE 165 fight card:
Main card
Superlek Kiatmoo9 (c) vs. Takeru Segawa – flyweight kickboxing title fight
Kade Ruotolo (c) vs. Tommy Langaker – lightweight submission grappling title fight
Shinya Aoki vs. Sage Northcutt – lightweight MMA fight
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Nieky Holzken – catchweight (187.24) special rules fight
Marat Grigorian vs. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong – catchweight (156.5) kickboxing fight
Garry Tonon vs. Martin Nguyen – featherweight MMA fight
Itsuki Hirata vs. Ayaka Miura – atomweight MMA fight
Preliminary card
Danny Kingad vs. Yuya Wakamatsu – flyweight MMA fight
Rade Opacic vs. Iraj Azizpour – heavyweight kickboxing fight
Bokang Masunyane vs. Keito Yamakita – strawweight MMA fight
Hiroba Minowa vs. Gustavo Balart – strawweight MMA fight
