Former UFC Fighter Sage Northcutt Makes Move to PFL After ONE Championship Departure
After stints with the UFC and ONE Championship, ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt has officially signed with the Professional Fighters League.
According to a report from Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, Northcutt has inked a deal with the promotion and is expected to make his debut in 2025.
Northcutt first burst onto the mixed martial arts scene in 2015 under the UFC banner. During his three-year run with the promotion, the Texas native scored himself a solid 6-2 record with noteworthy wins against Michel Quiñones, Thibault Gouti, and Zak Ottow.
After fighting out his contract in 2018, Northcutt traded in the Octagon for the Circle, signing with ONE Championship in search of greener pastures and a greater opportunity to compete.
Unfortunately, Northcutt’s plan backfired when he suffered a horrifying 29-second knockout in his promotional debut against Cosmo Alexandre. ‘Super’ was left with eight facial fractures that required nine hours of surgery to repair.
Sage Northcutt cuts ties with ONE after pulling out of long-awaited fight with shinya Aoki
The injury put him on the shelf for four years before making his return to ONE in May 2023. Northcutt secured a quick-fire submission victory over Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE Fight Night 10 and was later scheduled for a scrap against Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki in January.
Unfortunately, that fight never came to fruition after Northcutt pulled out of the bout hours before it was scheduled to go down after his coaches failed to obtain visas to corner him at the event in Tokyo.
“I sent ONE Championship the necessary paperwork they required to get my coaches visas 48 days ahead of the event,” Northcutt wrote on social media. I was told by them over the phone and by text my main jiu-jitsu coach Fabio Prado did not need a visa since I paid for his airfare flights and trip so he was not classified as a working employee that needed a visa and that my other coach could get in as a tourist so he didn’t need one either.
“My coaches were there for almost a week, and I was not informed that two of them could not coach until hours before my match. I received a text from an unknown number that texted me for the first time that day that was a ticket salesman asking me about getting my two coaches complimentary tickets to watch my fight in the audience. I personally believe that ONE Championship was not going to inform me that my coaches were not allowed to corner me until I arrived at the arena to fight if I did not hear from a ticket salesman hours earlier.”
Northcutt exited the promotion shortly after, wrapping up a run that saw him compete just twice over five years.
