Sage Northcutt Excited To Strike With Cosmo Alexandre

After months of waiting, “Super” Sage Northcutt is finally ready to make his ONE Championship debut on Friday, 17 May.

The 23-year-old will get his opportunity to perform on the global stage for martial arts for the first time at ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

As a lifelong martial artist, Northcutt felt like ONE Championship would be the perfect place to perform, and after waiting since last July to return to action, he is champing at the bit to get in the ring.

His opponent will be Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexandre – a surprising choice to many fans because the Brazilian is primarily known for his multiple World Championships in Muay Thai and kickboxing.

However, he also holds an impressive 7-1 mixed martial arts record with five wins by knockout.

Ahead of his showdown with Alexandre, Northcutt talked about his excitement to compete again, how he has prepared to get his hand raised, and what his long-term goals are as part of the ONE roster.

ONE Championship: How excited are you to finally have your first bout scheduled?

Sage Northcutt: I’m super excited. I was going to fight earlier, but now I’m actually fighting in Singapore.

I think that’s going to be the coolest thing – fighting overseas for the first time for mixed martial arts. That’s going to be so much fun.

ONE: How much have you taken advantage of the time off to grow and evolve as a martial artist since your last contest in July 2018?

SN: Absolutely. For my last three fights, I took a break from school, and I trained at Team Alpha Male, and I was constantly improving. Now, having a little bit more time to improve, I’m improving everything about my game. I’m getting better every single day.

ONE: What have you made of the level of the athletes in ONE since you started paying more close attention to the organization?

SN: ONE Championship has the most World Champions out of any league. So not only do they have mixed martial arts, but they also have kickboxing, they have Muay Thai, they have submission grappling, and they’ve even had boxing. 

They’ve got the best guys in each of those disciplines, so they definitely have some of the most talent in the world.

Just because some of the guys are overseas and maybe people don’t know about them in the United States doesn’t mean they’re not good. There’s definitely a lot of talent, for sure.

ONE: What did you think when you were offered Alexandre as your first opponent?

SN: Cosmo Alexandre is a very talented guy. He’s had hundreds of fights. He’s a several time kickboxing champion.

He’s very talented, and he’s got a lot of skills and experience. I know he’s a great striker. I’ve grown up striking since I was 4 years old, so I think it will be a super entertaining fight.

I love to stand up and strike, and it will be fun to go out there and fight him in my first fight with ONE Championship.

What’s interesting is it’s actually going to be in a ring. That will be something different for me – something kind of unique and cool. That will be fun.

ONE: You are also well-versed in the ground game. Do you believe you have more ways to win this bout than your opponent?

SN: I’m always visualizing myself winning out there in every way possible.  I’m not sure about how much experience he’s had in every aspect of martial arts, but I see myself as very versatile. I have experience in a lot of different aspects of martial arts.

Going in there for my debut with ONE Championship, I want to make a great impression. I want to be exciting, I want to go out there and be victorious and win my fight.

I’m training super hard, and I’m definitely going to go out there and try to put on a great show, too.

ONE: Do you have a prediction for how the contest will go?

SN: I’m always looking to go for the finish. I love striking, and Cosmo Alexandre is a great striker, so it will be fun getting to strike with a great striker.

I know ONE Championship will love that, and I’m looking forward to putting on a great show doing that. I’m going to fight smart, too.

I’m so excited, and it’s going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to get out there.