Sage Northcutt spent a total of two-plus years competing in the UFC, amassing a record of 6-2-0 in the promotion.
The fighter would then move onto One Championship and suffer a brutal knockout loss to Cosmo Alexandre at One Championship: Enter The Dragon, a loss that prompted UFC President Dana White to call for Northcutt to retire.
“I would really like to see Sage Northcutt retire,” White said to TSN (via Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “I hope he does. Good looking, charismatic kid, smart. He was (going to) 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 shitting 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’s not that the kid doesn’t have some talent. He does have some talent. 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.”
Northcutt would require surgery to repair his face after being knocked out by Alexandre, but the fighter didn’t retire.
If there is one thing that Northcutt is wondering about, it is why would the UFC President call for his retirement.
“For him to say something like that, after that injury, I don’t understand the exact logic of why he would say something like that,” Northcutt told MMA Fighting. “Before, he was wishing me to do great in everything I happened to do in the future, and (to) say something like that is totally different.”
There is no word yet as to when Northcutt will return to action, as the fighter is still recovering from the aforementioned surgery.
