Get To Know Sage Northcutt Like You Never Have Before
“Super” Sage Northcutt will look to make an immediate impact in ONE Championship when he makes his debut in 2019.
The 22-year old mixed martial arts prodigy started his combat education almost as early as he first learned to walk, and he soon developed into a must-see talent.
With an 11-2 professional record under some of the most intense spotlights in the sport, the Texas native has proved he can hang with the best of the best from across the globe.
Now the talented athlete will bring his skills to The Home Of Martial Arts, where he has designs on becoming the ONE Welterweight World Champion, as well as testing himself in ONE Super Series.
Ahead of his debut in 2019, learn a little bit more about the man they call “Super” Sage Northcutt.
Born Into Martial Arts
To say that Sage Northcutt was born into martial arts would be no exaggeration.
Guided by his father, Mark, who was a karate black belt, Northcutt started training when he was just four years old.
His earliest memories of martial arts came from an in-house dojo that his parents built so that he and his two siblings – Colbey and Shaun – could train together whenever they wanted.
“I started when I was four and a half years old. My sister started when she was seven. My younger brother has been training martial arts since he was four years old, too. He’s a beast,” Northcutt says.
“We all started very young. My dad being my coach my whole life, he’s coached me for all my fights, all my karate tournaments, all my wrestling matches.
“My mom and dad actually built a training room in our house when I was a little kid and had a whole training set with mats on the ground that covered the entire room.”
By the time he was six, Northcutt was already entering tournaments on the international level.
With the help of his dad, who has been his mentor and role model through every aspect of his life, Northcutt achieved outstanding success.
It was clear he was destined for great things as he continued to grow and the accolades piled up.
“As we won more and more events, our first world championship, and then our second world championship, they were putting the first-place plaques and trophies on the wall,” Northcutt says.
“That was a really neat experience because as I got older, I got to see all the accomplishments and everything I had done.”
School of Hard Knocks
If there is one aspect of martial arts that spoke to Northcutt more than any other, it was the constant education he has received since he first started practicing karate.
Within a few years, Northcutt was taking taekwondo classes, and at 12, he started studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He even dabbled in wrestling in high school for a single season, making it as far as the state tournament, where he placed fifth.
As much as he loved winning, he says learning really was his favorite part of his journey in martial arts.
“What I really liked is that you’re always learning something different,” Northcutt explains.
“You’re always improving and getting better. There are so many different techniques.
“Let’s say you could know every move that karate could teach – every kick and every punch. You’re always going up against somebody who brings something different to the table and has a little different style, different speed, different power, or the way they move is different.
“It never gets boring. I think that’s the fact that really got me into it.”
Over the years, Northcutt and his family traveled the globe where he competed in tournaments in places like Russia, Croatia, and Ireland while racking up an obscene amount of championship trophies.
As much as he enjoyed his own martial arts evolution, Northcutt says his family never allowed him to slack off on his education at school.
In fact, Northcutt received top marks all the way through high school until he entered college at Texas A&M University to study petroleum engineering.
If not for his career in mixed martial arts, Northcutt would have continued his pursuit of that degree, but for now, he has put all that on hold so he can follow his dreams in ONE.
Down With The Sickness
Throughout his career – from the time he was entering karate tournaments as a child, to mixed martial arts success at the highest level – Northcutt has faced victory far more often than defeat.
When he has lost, he has learned valuable lessons. Perhaps none were more important than through the two setbacks he has tasted in mixed martial arts.
While he would never take away anything from his opponents, much less make excuses for his losses, Northcutt knows what hindered him on both occasions.
Remarkably, he never had a full training camp for any of his bouts before last year. While he was at college in Texas, he was cobbling together his workouts while still taking all his classes in school.
The second hindrance was his own body.
“Looking back, I’ve had two losses in my career, and the hardest things for me was juggling school with training, not having a fight camp, and being extremely sick during those times,” Northcutt says.
“I had to get my tonsils taken out. I was so sick that when I had those losses, it was tough for me to even go running at night time, go work out with weights, or train more than an hour or two a day. I would run my body down and not be able to recover.
“So really, I think that was the toughest part – just how sick I was. I couldn’t show my true martial arts that I had. I think that was really tough for me.”
Forever a student of the game, however, Northcutt has learned he had better listen when his body is trying to tell him something.
Now he is older, wiser, and prepared to enter the world’s largest martial arts organization at 100 percent of his powers.
Roads Paved In Gold
Since he first started competing, Northcutt has been a world champion, and he only plans on adding more gold to his trophy case in ONE Championship.
Traveling around the globe, Northcutt won an incredible 77 world championships competing in karate tournaments.
Before he turned 16, Northcutt had already been featured prominently on the cover of several martial arts magazines and was even inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame.
A month after his 18th birthday, Northcutt began his professional mixed martial arts career. By 19, he was already competing against athletes at the international level.
Now that he is training full time with his coaches and teammates at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, Northcutt believes his time to have gold around his waist once again is not far away.
In fact, he has plans on winning several titles on the global stage for martial arts.
“I’m super pumped. Getting to travel all over the world and getting to fight for ONE Championship,” Northcutt says.
“I think what’s really cool, and what I’m really excited about is not only do I get to fight mixed martial arts, but Mr. Chatri [Sityodtong] was saying I can also fight Muay Thai and kickboxing.
“I believe I can be the World Champion in ONE Championship in each of those.”
Those are lofty goals, but Northcutt is nothing but determined.
At his request – after his trip to Singapore for ONE: HEART OF THE LION in November – “Super” Sage is set to make his debut at ONE: CALL TO GREATNESS on 22 February, where he will begin his run at gold in his new home.
