Even before bringing his talents to ONE Championship, “Super” Sage Northcutt was under a lot of scrutiny, and some unwarranted criticism.
A prodigious talent who’s succeeded in every karate competition, the spotlight has always been on Northcutt. Now he’ll have to live up to expectations.
He marks his return from a four-year hiatus to take on Ahmed “Wolverine” Mujtaba in lightweight MMA action at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on May 6 inside the sold-out 1stBank Center in Colorado.
“Man, everybody has down days, that’s for sure. But having a positive outlook, I think that’s a big thing,” he said.
It’s not surprising that some fans have been hard on “Super,” especially since his debut with ONE left a lot to be desired. Northcutt faced Cosmo Alexandre and got knocked out seconds into the match.
But for Northcutt, it’s all about taking things in stride. At the end of the day, he believes in his capabilities and trusts that there’s a bigger plan for him in the grand scheme of things.
“You know, if I look at any negative comment, a lot of them are actually kind of funny. So a lot of them are actually, I’m looking at them like, ‘Oh, you know what? That was pretty funny,’ and I laughed at it. I don’t let it get to me. It doesn’t really bother me. I kind of tune it out,” he said.
“Knowing that God’s got plans for my future, He’s got plans for your future, that kind of keeps me positive and keeps me going, even if something looks like a setback. Two years later, maybe it’s a few months, maybe it’s days, you never know,” he continued.
“You can look back like, ‘Wow, that led me to this point, or I improved here.’ Now I’m at this point where I would never have been before. So that kind of stuff keeps me positive.”
Instead of focusing on the negatives, Northcutt plans to win over fans by coming out of his hiatus better and sharper than ever – and that starts in his match against Mujtaba.
“The fans definitely pump me up just a ton. Even people that aren’t fans, I’m trying to win over people that aren’t,” he said.
“Having this fight, I know my first fight with ONE Championship didn’t go as planned. So obviously, I want to get back out there and perform great. I’d like to be able to get a finish and do an amazing job.”
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