Ever since he burst onto the UFC scene as a 19-year-old in 2015, we’ve always known [autotag]Sage Northcutt[/autotag] to be, uh, health conscious.
Who are we kidding? The kid already was shredded back then with an eight pack most of us can only dream about. Here, take a look:
A lot has changed since then. For starters, Northcutt is no longer with the UFC after signing with ONE Championship in November 2018. As you might imagine given he was just 19 when he started, he’s also grown – which has caused him to fluctuate between lightweight and welterweight during the majority of his 14-fight career. For his ONE debut, Northcutt moved up to middleweight and was knocked out in just 29 seconds by Cosmo Alexandre.
That was the last time we saw Northcutt in the cage, more than two years ago in May 2019. Recovery from facial fractures caused by the knockout combined with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down ONE combined with Northcutt himself testing positive for COVID-19 have kept him out of action since then.
Northcutt had been slated to move back down to 170 pounds for a fight with Shinya Aoyoki this past April at ONE on TNT IV, but he was forced to withdraw because of lingering COVID effects. So clearly, it would seem, he learned a lesson about fighting too heavy after the brutal Alexandre knockout.
But then again, maybe not.
Because if you follow Northcutt on Instagram, you would see that he’s put on some weight and a lot of muscle – a lot of muscle.
Check out this evolution since March 2: