Northcutt dismisses KO loss ahead of return: 'The best is yet to come'
Sage Northcutt is confident he'll turn his career around after suffering a major setback in his ONE Championship debut nearly two years ago.
Northcutt debuted in the Asia-based promotion in May 2019 after parting ways with the UFC where he was considered a super prospect. He dropped a 29-second knockout loss to Cosmo Alexandre and suffered several facial injuries, leading to a lengthy layoff.
The 25-year-old doesn't believe his last fight was an accurate representation of his ceiling as a fighter.
"You can't really judge anything by that because that was only one fight, and that's the past," Northcutt told theScore. "Even the best champions in the world get beat sometimes. And sometimes they get beat in just a few seconds.
"Everyone's got an off night sometimes. Definitely, the best is yet to come."
Northcutt is finally set to step into the ONE cage for the second time April 28 against Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki. He expected to return far sooner than the second quarter of 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted those plans.
"Once COVID happened, there weren't really any gyms open," Northcutt said. "California shut down pretty much everything. Just now you're able to go eat at a restaurant outside. Literally everything was shut down.
"So for me, I actually ordered a bunch of equipment to work out at the house. I was doing home workouts: shadow boxing, I had a ground-and-pound dummy. That's what I was doing for a while just to make sure I stayed in shape."
While he hasn't always been able to train in an ideal setting during the pandemic, Northcutt said he's been itching to fight ever since he recovered from the loss to Alexandre.
"Literally right after getting well, I was trying to go out and push myself," Northcutt said. "Jogging outside, boxing on the bag - probably when I shouldn't have yet, but I'm the kind of person that does that. I always try to train really hard and get better."
Northcutt considers Aoki his most challenging opponent to date, as the 37-year-old veteran brings with him 56 professional bouts compared to Northcutt's 14. Aoki also has a high-level grappling game, and Northcutt has been submitted in two of his three pro losses.
"I would definitely say so," Northcutt said when asked if beating Aoki would mark the most impressive win of his career. "He was the champion eight months ago."
Northcutt hopes to avoid another layoff after the Aoki fight.
"I'm a fighter, so I want to be out there all the time fighting," he said. "If I can, I'd like to have two or three fights this year. I'm the kind of person that wants to be out there constantly, and I'm missing it so badly."