ESPN MMA’s Marc Raimondi interviews Sage Northcutt ahead of his May 5 return vs. Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10.
Margaret Mundy for ESPN back with you today with a special guest super Sage Northcutt it has been a very long time since we’ve seen you uh Sage it’s been over almost four years since the last time you fought but you have a fight coming up finally May 5th one Championship uh against the opponent Ahmed mustaba and a lot to cover with you lots to ask but I guess first how were things what are you up to uh you know what are the last four years uh of your life been like man you’re exactly right it’s been a long time almost four years it’s crazy so over this uh past couple years uh I’ve been I’ve been staying in shape I’ve been training hard um first fight back for one championship and I couldn’t be more excited that it’s in the US so super pumped for that and right now at this moment I’m in Sacramento California so that’s where my training Camp’s at uh Team Alpha Male been going up to Tahoe and again some elevation training so just just been super stoked and uh trying to stay Sharp so you have the fight coming up it’s uh it’s in Colorado of course against 170 pound fight correct yes 170 but it’s lightweight so in the in the other organizations lightweight’s 155 but for one Championship 170 is hydrated so it’s a little different right exactly um so the last time we saw you it was uh 2019 was against the uh Cosmo alessandre and uh things didn’t go quite your way that night uh out in Asia how has your recovery been from that injury I know that you you broke several uh bones in your face yeah you know I’m I’m all healed up now I’m all recovered uh it did take some time obviously injuries happen in the sport of mixed martial arts most sports people get injured so whether you’re training or competing so it did take some time um but I’m all healed up and you know I had an off night for my first fight with one Championship but super super excited for this fight back and I’ve been training really hard what was uh the hardest part about recovering from that because I mean I think to most people’s Sage you know who are not Fighters the prospect of of you know having bones in your face broken it doesn’t sound too attractive so what was like the hardest part man you know I think with any kind of injury you had if you have you look at you look at some of the best Champs in the world you look at uh Conor McGregor he he broke his broke his leg so about Anderson Silva snapped his shin you look at all these different uh Champions Kobe he had to hurt me for a long time you look at some of the best guys in the world and injuries happen so people have off nights people have times that aren’t their time but I think the hardest part for me was not getting to do anything so just kind of sitting around just waiting that’s that’s the part that got me because I’m very active I like to go get it I like to go after it and go train so that was the hardest part for sure I’m sure that you were still able to to work out right I mean I if you had you’ve had like an eight pack since you were like a young child so I’m sure you were still up to work out right man I’m super blessed uh being able to train hard and stuff since I was a little kid working out eating right but no for for the short bit after while I was healing up there was a period of time where obviously I was told by the doctors hey you can’t work out can’t do much don’t want to get your blood up you want to make sure you keep your heart rate down so for me I just try to eat super healthy I did I I stay in shape all the time but eating clean was my biggest deal during that time what did you do to pass the time like during during those you know those days and weeks and months where you know you couldn’t work out and working out has been such a big part of your life forever uh what’d you do so I started getting into some gaming I was playing video games with my brother some friends a lot of Call of Duty I thought that was pretty fun then also I was studying up on different Fighters watching their fights kind of breaking stuff down going back and looking at my old fights um my professional career that I’ve had so far and kind of breaking down my own fights that’s kind of what I was up to for a while and uh and then trying to get back into it also I think you were supposed to come back uh in in 2020 in 2021 if I’m not mistaken right and then you had uh you had a pity a pretty bad bout of covet 19. can you tell us about that a little bit absolutely so yeah I always said to come back sooner and it’s a bummer that I haven’t gotten to yet um but I’m just a few weeks away now I was set to fight SHINee Aoki uh he’s a legend in the sport for grappling so that was going to be super super cool fight I was excited for that um unfortunately everybody knows that a majority of everyone’s caught in covert now but just the timing was so bad because a week before flying out all the way to Singapore overseas from the U.S I came down with covid and was battling that so I was out from training it took me like a week I was trying to sit around just hoping I would get better and I didn’t get better fast enough so that fight got postponed and uh now now it’s time to step back out there May 5th how bad did uh the symptoms get for you and how long did they take to go away you know I think the part that got me was everybody’s symptoms are different with covet obviously um and I know how people are like having covert no matter what you’re doing and stuff like talking about like a weird subject but um for me I tried I tried training through it I tried keeping my own cardio so like even though I was even though when I found out I had covid I wasn’t going to Uriah Faber’s gym or training mixed martial arts for that time I was still trying to push myself so I was trying to go jogging on my own or walking on the treadmill or doing some kind of cardio until I made myself worse and uh obviously was told by the doctors hey you have to sit back and can’t do anything don’t get your heart rate up and uh just kind of had to let myself heal up from that it’s one of those funny things because some people when they get it they feel nothing and other people even even people like yourself who are an incredible physical shape you know what we mentioned the eight you know the eight pack of Bob’s earlier uh you know sometimes you guys can get it severely it’s a really weird thing yeah it’s super weird you know that’s the thing uh it’s interesting athletes are a lot of athletes are so tuned in with their body that they know like hey I’m feeling a little run Downy even if you’re not sick you feel run down you need some extra sleep whatever it might be but yeah it says definitely strange so you went through all that stuff uh you know between the facial injuries uh the covid-19 you know these are these are major setbacks it’s been a long time since you fought you have always kept an incredibly positive attitude uh over the years in MMA in interviews and I’m sure behind the scenes as well and not in front of the cameras any any dark moments or were you just positive were you were you the super Sage that we all that we all know and uh and love the whole time oh man thank you uh there’s definitely definitely uh times like obviously you have an injury um not just me anybody that has an injury and you’re in a professional sport or even not a professional sport it’s kind of it’s a bummer you’re you’re like man um I want to get back out there like for me I had an off night my first night was one and I’m like man that’s that stinks I want to get back out there and perform great you know that wasn’t my best performance it was an off night and I want to heal up as fast as possible so yeah you’re you’re down definitely for a little bit just kind of bummed out and uh but you know like I believe God has plans for my future and there’s things that that are in store what seems as a setback is actually something that Looking Back Now you’re like hey is setting something up that’s great I’m coming back into fight my first fight back getting to fight the US begin to have U.S fans engaged and getting to watch like I I think it’s a great card for my first fly back did you uh did you get like because again you know we’ve always seen you so you know so sunny and so you know happy all the time you know did you get depressed like was there moments where you felt like hey maybe I can’t come back come back and do this again whoa you know you can ask people that were right there with me obviously after my fight I’m all healed up now good to go but right after the fight that that same within those 24 hours I was like man I wonder I wonder like how soon I can come back I was already thinking in my head about coming back of course I was upset my performance of course I was upset with how things worked that moment and I was like man it’s gonna take some time to heal up but at the same time I was already planning on coming back wanted to heal up and you can you can ask people that know me my coaches my family when I was when I was in the process of healing up like the first like six months or so I was probably pushing it too hard I was trying to get back out and go jogging outside like the least amount of impact that I could do or ride a bike and and that was affecting me for a little bit because I had to heal up so there was definitely times where it was like man this is really annoying were you were you in Sacramento the whole time or were you back home in Texas as well I was in Sacramento for a little bit um I saw my family in Texas for a little bit I was out in uh like Los Angeles area for a little bit so I was a little bit in different spots any uh any acting roles off you I know you’re you’re you know your your wife Amanda’s uh very involved in that in that world in Hollywood oh yeah she’s she’s talented she uh she’s great at voiceovers too and she was the voiceover for one of the Powerpuff Girls for amphibia for troll she plays poppy on Netflix for the trolls show like she’s super talented for me uh the the I guess something I got my feet into um during the last couple years was it was a blessing getting to be on The Apprentice I thought that was super fun um just getting to have a little fun filming a couple episodes for that and uh maybe in the future doing some acting yeah I think so I think so you have you have the Hollywood uh good looks there Sage but one of the funny things uh and obviously it’s not it’s not funny but you know you’re out for four years you’re still only 27 years old you know you’re not even in your athletic Prime yet and and you know you missed all that time but you’re still you know you still have plenty of time to do big things in the sport was that all was that in the back of your mind as well like you know what I’m still young I still have you know maybe another 10 years in MMA yes absolutely um looking at looking at when I last had my fight I don’t know if it was 20 20 20 uh or not 2020 I don’t know if it was right it’s 2019 so just about four years ago I I mean I was I was about 23 years old that’s crazy to think and you know coming from coming from the previous organization I was with fighting professionally and I was on a three fight win streak that’s that’s like I’m super young so having something like this I guess while I’m kind of young in my career healing up from it now I’m all good coming back is like a learning experience and you know I look at it as I have a long career ahead of me I could be fighting until I’m in my 40s and uh and I think I think uh I have a very strong career ahead of me I’m glad you brought that up because I feel like there are some misconceptions about about your career um you were on a winning streak when you left the UFC there was not a situation where right at least you know it was nothing like that it was uh you were actually you know doing very well at that point in time do you feel like that there’s been some misconceptions or maybe kind of like a spin of how of how that went oh yeah absolutely you know I was I had six wins and two losts in the UFC and my last three fights were three consecutive wins with my last fight being me moving up from 155 to 170 and finishing my opponent by knockout so I was I was coming off a three fight win streak coming off of a knockout at a weight class up knocking my opponent out and my contract ended and one uh one Championship offered offered what they offered and the UFC was not able to match it I made the choice to go to one championship and uh was really interested in one so that’s that’s why I made the move and I think there definitely was uh some different different stories going on somehow but yeah I know you have this fight coming up and it’s your first fight back and I’m sure you want to get that you know under your belt but when you look ahead when you look to the Future what do you see what are the goals you know what are what are your Ambitions in MMA moving forward so my goals haven’t changed just like most Fighters I want to be the World Champ I also want to do it in multiple different sports so I have a kickboxing background Growing Up Karate background and I feel like kickboxing be great for me to compete in the future I feel like competing and submission grappling will be awesome too for instance I had a fight set up with shinyoki that’d be something cool for the future to have a submission grappling match like that um just test my skills show my skills out there and test myself also uh I think being very active obviously like you said I’m focused on this fight right now May 5th my first fight back in several years so I’m completely zoned in on this fight but after this fight I would love to be uh very active tell me a little bit about your training camp with Team Alpha Male of course Uriah Faber you know one of the all-time greats in the game you know who have you been training with and then how has that gone the last few weeks up there oh yeah so training camps are going great um my coaches derive favor like you listen uh or listed uh all the coaches that Team Alpha Male one of my coaches Fabio I got Danny Castillo I have the list goes on there’s so many good coaches um my boxing coach I’m surrounded by a great team and a bunch of great Fighters so every day it’s like a fight in the gym you’re getting to test yourself and get some of the best Grapplers some of the best strikers um it’s it’s very good gym you mentioned uh I mean alpha male has always been known for you know wrestling and grappling that’s that’s Uriah favors bread and butter right you know that that was his game he was a wrestler in college and he has passed that down on to his uh his students A Team Alpha Male uh I guess you know you could say that if you did have a weakness back then you know back before you got hurt it was that aspect right you did come up as a kickboxer you you know you were you were a championship level kickboxer uh how much do you would you say you’ve improved that wrestling and grappling portion of your MMA game you know yeah you’re right before uh before Trinity Ryan favors gym I was I was studying to be an engineer in college so I was going to register Studio but it’s a little bit different again to transitsu for MMA so getting to really have all that access to the knowledge with Uriah Faber and my coaches there Team Alpha Mill and the different training Partners has really helped tremendously and uh I’m really looking forward to being able to show all the hard work that I’ve been putting in and how hard I’ve been training I think there was a time period uh you know when you were young and you know you were first coming to the UFC where a lot of people said this is a guy that could be one of the faces of the sport in a few years you know one of the faces of the UFC you know now you’re in one do you see yourself maybe becoming in a short order you know one of the faces for one one of the faces for one in the United States if you’re not already one of those I would absolutely love that out for sure you know that’s uh something that I would like um I like to win every single one of my fights going forward obviously I like to be very dominant I like to go out there and put on a great show for everyone and uh I like to try to finish my opponents I try to make things exciting so I think that’d be really cool um and looking at one Championship Coming to America that’s that’s awesome too because I know when it was just based overseas it’s kind of it’s kind of like the fans in the US getting up in the middle of the night to try to watch it was very tough but now in America people are going to go actually tune in at the arena and if they can’t they can watch on Amazon Prime videos so it’s super cool last thing Sage uh are you still able to do that that front flip that you did after your fights and celebration can you still do that at age at the ripe old age of 27. yes sir definitely you know it uh will you do that if you win on May 5th after your one championship fight in Denver and I haven’t even thought about it actually uh I’ve been so zoned in on this fight um but you know I’ll probably get super excited uh that’s that’s what happened I get super excited and I want to do something cool you know for everybody well you are super Sage thank you so you have to get super excited of course yo yes sir is that stuff that you practice like it’s almost like Parkour in a sense right or gymnastics like do you practice or is it just just naturally you just said hey I mean I wouldn’t even know like how to learn that because if I try to do it I would probably break my neck yeah I I practiced it since I was pretty young uh different different flips different tricks I trained gymnastics growing up so that’s really helped out a lot of core strengths and learning those things too uh but for karate that’s I learned a lot of those tricks and flips for karate so definitely I feel like some of that stuff would be very applicable for professional wrestling have you ever thought about that I have actually you know there was a Malachi black came by Team Alpha Mill recently I saw that recently yes yes yeah came by we got a little stuff together and we were talking about that like it shares a lot of stuff in common especially the acrobats and just like strength and Speed and Agility like all those things that’s that’s pretty cool he’s a legitimate badass is he not Malachi black he can he can uh he can fight a little bit right yeah he grew up doing Muay Thai definitely Cannon yeah he uh he went to Duke River’s gym a few years ago and I was talking with Duke about that and he was like that guy could have been a pretty good kickboxer if that’s the the path that he wanted uh to go on so maybe uh maybe in the future we’ll see you in uh WWE aw that’d be cool yeah I could see it definitely awesome well thank you so much again May 5th one Championship again uh you know big return four years it’s great to have you back still a uh a a bundle of positive and happiness so uh good luck with everything that that date and in the future yes sir hey thanks so much thanks Sage all right all right thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus