ONE Fight Night 10 preview and predictions: Sage Northcutt vs. Ahmed Mujtaba

The highly anticipated return of ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt is upon us at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video this coming Friday.

His opponent Ahmed Mujtaba, though, aims to spoil the party and deny him his first victory in the Singapore-based promotion.

Emanating from the 1stBank Center in Colorado, ONE Championship’s historic United States on-location debut is stacked to the brim with incredible talent. Apart from the three world title fights, this lightweight showdown between Northcutt and Mujtaba is indeed one of the must-watch offerings of the May 5 event.

The winner, of course, will likely get a spot in the stacked lightweight divisional ranks, currently governed by divisional kingpin Christian Lee.

As always, Sportskeeda MMA’s ONE Championship team has put on their thinking caps and carefully analyzed this marquee matchup.

ONE Championship’s fifth Amazon card of 2023, ONE Fight 10, will air live and for free for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.

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Vince Richards: Ahmed Mujtaba by decision

This match is a bit tough to crack since Sage Northcutt’s been absent for almost four years. Nevertheless, we can still look back at his body of work before he arrived at ONE Championship.

‘Super’ Sage is a terrific striker who can overwhelm his opponents at will. Ahmed Mujtaba, meanwhile, has grown tremendously over the past two years in ONE Championship. ‘Wolverine’ proved that he can operate at different levels and even adjust to what the opponent is giving him.

Just by recent activity, I feel that this match will go Mujtaba’s way.

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Mike Murillo: Ahmed Mujtaba by decision

The lightweight showdown between the returning Sage Northcutt and Pakistani MMA star Ahmed Mujtaba is one of the fights I’m looking forward to catching at ONE’s landmark U.S. show later this week.

You have on one end Northcutt, who is coming back from a nearly four-year hiatus due to various medical issues, and on the other Mujtaba, who is coming off one of his more impressive victories in ONE back in November.

Both fighters are not lacking the motivation to win, especially since the event will take place in the United States. But being the more active fighter between the two, I will give the win to Mujtaba by decision.

‘Wolverine’ has been impressive in his last two fights, finishing his opponents inside the opening round. In both occasions, he showed a more rounded arsenal.

He showcased his punching power by knocking out Rahul Raju in February 2021 then last November, impressively forcing BJJ black belt Abraoo Amorim into submission due to a triangle choke.

Mujtaba has shown that he is more comfortable wherever the fight goes, and that will be a big factor in his clash with ‘Super Sage'.

Northcutt, for his part, had impressive credentials before joining ONE in 2018, but I believe it has been rocked when he was knocked out in his promotional debut in May 2019 against Brazilian Cosmo Alexandre 29 seconds into the fight.

He has not competed since then and it remains to be seen if the time away has done him any good.

That's notwithstanding his pronouncements that he trained hard while on the sidelines. I do expect him, however, to have a better showing this time around and will test Mujtaba here and there.

In the end, though, it is ‘Wolverine’ just having more to give.

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Ted Razon: Sage Northcutt by second-round KO

Sage Northcutt has a lot to prove after getting brutally KO’ed in his circle debut almost four years ago. With that said, I believe the lengthy time off served ‘Super’ well, and he’ll be back better than ever before.

This is not a knock on Mujtaba’s capabilities, considering he’s coming off back-to-back first-round victories. However, the American has more to prove and has already showcased the ability to end fights in the past.

I expect Northcutt to show some ring rust early on and struggle to find his rhythm in the first five minutes. ‘Wolverine’ should have his moments there, but I doubt he can collect a third straight first-round victory.

Mujtaba, who’s training with elite wrestlers in AKA, will try to take this fight to the ground and neutralize Northcutt’s elite athleticism.

Northcutt’s training at Team Alpha Male should come in handy, and I think his takedown defense will hold up. From there, he’ll find a home for his lightning-fast strikes and connect on Mujtaba’s chin. If all goes to plan, I believe Northcutt will even take home a cool $50,000 bonus.