Sage Northcutt explains his mindset in return fight against Ahmed Mujtaba

At ONE Fight Night 10, Sage Northcutt finally made his long awaited return to the circle after a four year hiatus.

‘Super’ Sage had a lot of questions to answer in his comeback. He was able to provide a lot of answers with his submission victory over Ahmed Mujtaba at the sold-out 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado.

After surgery, a recovery process, and bout with COVID-19 that kept him away from competition for such a long time, no one knew what this new version of Northcutt would look like. When he stepped inside the circle, he showed that he has been improving as an all-round martial artist.

Northcutt's grappling was seemingly one of the weaker aspects of his game the last time we saw him. This time around, he stayed composed and locked up a heel hook from bottom position in the first round.

In his post-event interview, Sage Northcutt reflected on his time away from competition, what he had specifically been working on and how he put it into practice against Ahmed Mujtaba on his ONE Championship return:

“I’ve been working on grappling a little bit but being offensive too. I figured, I want to be a complete athlete out there and not just one aspect of the sport. So down there, I was really looking for a finish. That was the kind of mindset going in was I want to finish my opponent and do it any way possible. I saw an opening when he stood up, so I just took it.”

Watch the full post-event interview below:

North American fans can rewatch Northcutt’s performance against Mujtaba and the entire ONE Fight Night 10 card via the free replay on Prime Video.