Sage Northcutt reveals a challenging sport he got into during his time off

While Sage Northcutt spent four years away from MMA competition, he had to find ways to keep himself challenged.

Living in Sacramento, California, and training at Team Alpha Male, Northcutt strove to live a life of adventure by hitting the nearby mountains. He recently made an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani to recap what he’s been up to over the past few years:

“I kind of got into snowboarding. Actually, I’ve been looking at snowboarders, man, that’s a hard sport. If you didn’t start off young in that, that’s something you got to get used to.”

Being from Texas, Sage Northcutt likely didn’t get many opportunities to ski or snowboard growing up. The cold mountain air was likely a fresh contrast to the warm, sweaty environment of the gym and helped Northcutt find balance in life.

With no fights coming up, it was likely important for Northcutt to continue to have elements of sport built into his life that gave him the shot of adrenaline missing from fighting in MMA.

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Sage Northcutt's thankful Cosmo Alexandre knockout came earlier in career rather than later

Time off for Sage Northcutt also gave him the opportunity to reflect and re-frame career setbacks.

The loss to Cosmo Alexandre in 2019 stung. Some were even calling for the retirement of a young Northcutt, but instead, he responded with patience and regrouped to make a proper return in good health. Northcutt actually didn’t shy ahead from talking about the loss on The MMA Hour and sees it as a necessary part of his growth:

“I’m so young, I’m glad this happened at a time when I was so young and didn’t happen towards later on in my career because now I’m only 26. I have a whole career ahead of me. It’s kind of like, it happened now, which is better than later.”

Northcutt also needed time off after the Alexandre fight to heal from eight facial fractures suffered in the bout, which required surgery.

Sage Northcutt will make his long-awaited return to the ONE Circle at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th in Colorado, USA. He’ll fight another young prospect, Ahmed Mujtaba of Pakistan. He’ll also be moving down to ONE’s lightweight division, rather than welterweight, where he fought Alexandre.

Mujtaba is twenty-nine years old and 4-2 in ONE Championship, riding a two-fight win streak into the fight. It’s a perfect return fight for ‘Super’ Sage to fight another prospect on the rise.

As the fight gets closer, Sage will likely have to lay off on his newly-found hobby in snowboarding to remain healthy and focused for his re-introduction to MMA.