Dana White Wants Sage Northcutt To Retire After ONE Championship KO Loss
UFC President Dana White believes mixed martial arts (MMA) is not the right sport for Sage Northcutt, and thinks it’s best for him to retire.
Northcutt was on the receiving end of a brutal first-round knockout during his ONE Championship debut last month against Cosmo Alexandre. The finish went viral on social media as the 23-year-old suffered eight fractures and required a nine-hour surgery. Many have criticized ONE Championship for matching him up with such a high-level kickboxer for his debut.
However, White, who let Northcutt go from the UFC, thinks he simply might be in the wrong sport:
“Yeah [he’s not good enough],” White said in a recent interview. “It’s not that the kid doesn’t have some talent. He does have some talent. [But] this isn’t the sport for him. He needs to retire.
“And hopefully the people that surround him listen to what I’m saying and set this kid on another path in life, because he can literally do whatever he wants to do. He’s young, he’s smart. Some people have to fight. Sage Northcutt doesn’t have to fight.”
White added that Northcutt could do anything he wanted, especially something that doesn’t include suffering the kind of injuries that he did against Alexandre:
“I would really like to see Sage Northcutt retire,” White added. “I hope he does. Good looking, charismatic kid, smart. He was an engineer, taking college to be an engineer. He’s got a lot going on in his life.
“This isn’t the sport for him. I don’t want to sound like I’m sh*tting all over the guy because I really like the kid a lot, but this isn’t the sport for him. I would love to see him retire before he seriously gets hurt.”
It might seem harsh from White, considering that was Northcutt’s first knockout defeat. He also holds a record of 11-3 so it’s not like he’s been losing fight after fight either. Regardless, what do you think Northcutt should do?
