5 things to watch out for during UFC Fight Night 133

#4 The continuing development of Sage Northcutt

Sage Northcutt is developing his skills alongside legend Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male

Sage Northcutt has become somewhat maligned by fans and fellow professionals alike simply due to his hefty payout and push from the UFC brass, and quite frankly, that isn’t really fair.

Sure, the 22-year old isn’t close to being a title contender at 155lbs or 170lbs, but nobody’s ever called him that, and when low UFC payouts are such a big talking point, how can you really begrudge someone like Northcutt being paid well?

In reality ‘Super Sage’ is a strongly developing prospect, and while he didn’t look great in his last fight, he arguably could’ve lost a decision to Thibault Gouti in February. He’s clearly still finding his feet in the Octagon and had definitely made some notable improvements - mainly in his offensive wrestling game.

Now training with Team Alpha Male on a full-time basis, we can probably expect to see more major improvements from Northcutt this weekend. He’s a fantastic athlete and learning from the likes of Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez will help any fighter.

In Zak Ottow he’s facing a very beatable opponent – ‘The Barbarian’ folded under the strikes of Jingliang Li in his last outing, and the same could be possible when he faces Northcutt.