Those who have followed [autotag]Sage Northcutt[/autotag]’s career can predict a couple things about how he’s handling stay-at-home time during the coronavirus pandemic: 1. The energetic Texan is probably getting a little restless; and 2. He’s nonetheless maintaining his upbeat disposition.
Such assertions would be correct. Northcutt hasn’t fought in nearly a year, and who knows how much longer it will be before the MMA world gets back up to full speed. But whenever it happens, Northcutt says he’s going to be ready for action.
“I miss it a ton,” Northcutt recently told MMA Junkie. “I have more fire right now in my stomach and more drive to get out there and compete, more than ever. So I want to get back out there as soon as possible. I know this quarantine stuff is pretty crazy and I’m healing up, but I can’t wait, dude.”
Unfortunately for Northcutt, he’s had a bit too much time to reflect on his ONE Championship debut. Competing at 185 pounds for the first time in his career, Northcutt was knocked out in just 29 seconds by Cosmo Alexandre at “ONE Championship 96: Enter the Dragon” last May and was left with his orbital bone broken in eight different places.
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With plenty of time to recover and regroup, Northcutt has decided he’s dropping back down two weight classes to 155 pounds, where he’s seen his greatest career success to date – he was a perfect 5-0 at lightweight (which ONE calls featherweight) in the UFC.
“I’m still healing up, and I can’t wait to be able to get out there and fight again,” he enthused. “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.”
We don’t know when ONE Championship will resume action, or when Northcutt’s next fight might be. But, the way he sees it, the drop back to his weight class is a chance to get back to basics all around.
“I have a lot of different techniques and strengths that I never really get to use because, in training, I’m always trying to improve myself instead of going back to the basics and using those things,” Northcutt said. “So there’s a lot of different things, and of course every time someone has a loss or something doesn’t go right, you’re able to learn from it. So that’s exactly what I did. Having this time off in between I’ve done lots of studying, watching footage of different fighters, studying up on the ONE fighters in the weight class I’m gonna be at, so I think it’s going to be a great thing for me.”