Demetrious Johnson says the return of Sage Northcutt should be at ONE Championship’s first U.S. event in May

Out of all the familiar faces, Demetrious Johnson wants to see make their comeback is karate superstar ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt.

With the first-ever U.S. event taking place on Friday, May 5 at ONE Fight Night 10, many star athletes are campaigning for a spot on its historic fight card.

Demetrious Johnson is the first American booked to headline the main event. He will be defending his flyweight belt against former ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes to bring an end to their epic trilogy saga.

As the date edges closer, ‘Mighty Mouse’ compiled a list of American athletes who he thinks have the X-factor. Some of the names he chose were California native and two-sport kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion Janet Todd. He also included Singaporean-American and atomweight queen Angela Lee.

Lastly, he threw one last name out there which fans are only too familiar with. Speaking to SCMP MMA, the Washington native said:

“I definitely want to see Sage Northcutt back out there. Get in some more American blood. I would like to see more American talent on the card.”

‘Super’ Sage Northcutt was one of the most exciting young prospects to come out of MMA. His impressive karate pedigree and countless accolades in the sport have led him to fight in top MMA organizations in the US.

Arriving at ONE Championship on the back of three straight victories, he made his promotional debut against Brazilian power striker Cosmo Alexandre in May 2019. As fans remember it all too well, Alexandre needed only 29 seconds to knock him out cold.

Northcutt hasn’t returned to the ring since, but it would be incredible to see him make his anticipated comeback on the US fight card.

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Demetrious Johnson believes Kairat Akhmetov should be up next for the world title

‘Mighty Mouse’ Demetrious Johnson believes Kazakhstani MMA fighter Kairat Akhmetov is next in line for the world title.

Akhmetov is currently ranked the No.2 flyweight in the division for good reason. He is 5-0 in ONE Championship and has defeated Johnson’s past opponents, Danny Kingad and Tastumitsu Wada with dominant decisions.

Hence, Demetrious Johnson has enough evidence to believe Akhmetov has a serious claim to a world title shot.

Speaking at the ONE Fight Night 6 post-fight interview, he said:

"I think after [Moraes] I’ll be probably facing Kairat Akhmetov, who I believe is the No. 1 contender in the flyweight division. I mean, he’s on a five-fight win streak and me and him haven’t locked horns yet, so I think it would probably be him.”