Sage Northcutt Reveals The Extent Of His Injuries

When Sage Northcutt signed with ONE Championship, no one could have foreseen the outcome of his debut in the promotion, where he suffered a first round knockout at the hands of Cosmo Alexandre, in their match up at ONE: Enter The Dragon, this past May.

Since posting photos from the hospital in the days following the the loss, Sage hasn’t spoken publicly about the injuries he suffered to his face, that has seen him sidelined ever since.

However, speaking to MMA Fighting, Northcutt detailed the extent of the injuries and how his recovery is going.

“It’s been taking a while to heal up. The main thing is my nerves in my face. When I had the injury with the breaks, they almost sliced the nerves all the way through, so my nerve feelings are coming back.”

The American athlete said that he is still waiting for the doctor’s green light, to allow his to return to training.

“I’m waiting for the doctors to give me the OK to come back, but as of now, I haven’t had any kind of MMA training for the last five or six months since my injury, since my fight.”

Sage described the feeling of receiving such injury but as ever, the 23 year old is staying positive and hoping he can return soon.

“Obviously that’s a scary thought for anybody that would have the extent of the injury that I did, but I’m always shooting for the best.

“I’m hoping it’s as soon as possible, because I’m super eager. All I’ve been able to do is eat as healthy as I can. Just now I’ve been able to start working out a little bit with some weights and trying to stay in shape.”

When Sage can eventually return to the ONE circle, he plans on moving down to lightweight, where he feels more comfortable and confident.

“Obviously I wish that my injury didn’t happen, and I wasn’t set back for five or six months without getting training and improving myself better, I am going back down to 155, where I was undefeated. I was 5-0 in the UFC previously at the weight class. I’ve been undefeated my whole career at that weight class, so I think that’s gonna help out. I was really in a weight class that was too big for me, 185, and I think that had part to do with it also.”

Knowing the state of his body right now, Sage claims that he needs to lose some muscle in order to achieve his goal of competing back in the lightweight division.

“I started fighting at 155 when I was 18 or 19 years old. I definitely have more muscles now, [and] I am gonna have to lose a little bit of muscle because muscle-mass-wise, if I think if I had zero percent body fat, zero all the water I can lose in my body, I would have a hard time making 155. I will have to lose some muscle.”

Despite his plan of trimming down some muscles, the former Karate World Champion is confident that it will make a positive difference.

“I’m gonna be faster, gonna be quicker. And for that weight class, I’m gonna have plenty of muscle. I think it’s gonna be great.”

Despite the layoff, Northcutt still has big goals. Not only to capture the ONE title in mixed martial arts, but also Muay Thai and kickboxing in the ONE Super Series. When he comes back, Sage will carry the lessons from his previous bout, to ensure we see an improved version of himself on his return.

“I still plan on doing that. Going back down to 155, I think that’s the weight class for me. I still believe I can do that. I’ve learned a lot of things from having that last fight I just had, and I think I’m gonna be a better Sage from it.”


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