Sage Northcutt has stayed sharp in his absence

Despite his four-year-long layoff, ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt has stayed in shape and kept his skills sharp every step of the way.

After a very successful run in North America, Northcutt signed with the Asia-based promotion in 2019. Determined to begin a brand new chapter with the world’s biggest combat sports organization, Northcutt moved to Singapore-based ONE Championship. Things quickly turned disastrous as he stepped inside the Circle for his ONE Championship debut at ONE: Enter the Dragon in 2019, when he lost to Cosmo Alexandre by knockout.

That, however, is the past and Sage Northcutt is only interested in the future. Weeks away from his long-awaited return to the cage, the Texas native spoke with ESPN MMA to discuss his road back to the Circle and how he has kept busy over the last 35 months.

“It’s been a long time, almost four years. It’s crazy. Over these past couple of years, I’ve been staying in shape, I’ve been training hard,” Northcutt said. “First fight back for ONE Championship and I couldn’t be more excited since it’s in the US. I’m super pumped for that and right now, I’m in Sacramento, California, where my training camp is at with Team Alpha Male. I’ve been going up to Tahoe to get some elevation training. I’ve just been super stoked and trying to stay sharp.”

Sage Northcutt will be thrown directly back into the fire when he returns at ONE Fight Night 10, squaring off against Pakistani mixed martial arts champion Ahmed Mujtaba. With four wins inside the Circle and a 11-2 record overall, ‘Wolverine’ is on the verge of becoming a legitimate ONE world title contender in the lightweight division. A statement victory over Northcutt could be just what Mujtaba needs to push him close enough to the top of the division.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 10 live and for free in U.S. primetime on May 5.