Demetrious Johnson Sounds Off On Sage Northcutt’s ONE Loss

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has had an interesting journey to ONE Championship, just like Sage Northcutt.

ONE Championship signed Johnson as part of a trade with the UFC, who got Ben Askren in return last year. The former UFC champion is part of World Grand Prix tournament under the ONE banner in the flyweight division. He’s fresh off a submission win over Yuya Wakamatsu in Tokyo this past March. 

Henry Cejudo shocked the world when he was able to beat Johnson to capture the UFC flyweight title by split decision. This fight ended up being Johnson’s last fight in the UFC. Johnson came into the fight looking to defend his title successfully for the 12th time in his career, but that was not the case. Now, he looks forward.

While doing a recent interview, Johnson gave his take about how fellow former UFC star Sage Northcutt’s promotional debut went. Northcutt signed with ONE after his UFC contract expired earlier this year.

The 23-year-old went one-on-one with Cosmo Alexandre at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore earlier this month. The fight only lasted 29 seconds once Alexandre landed a right hand that knocked Northcutt out cold:

“I did [watch it]… It’s tough,” Johnson told BJPenn.com, discussing Northcutt’s debut in particular. “It’s mixed martial arts. Anything can happen. Cosmo Alexandre, he’s a tough dude, great kickboxer, obviously has a lot of power in his hands.

“Any fighter on any day can lose. You can ask any fighter, that’s just the reality of fighting.”