At ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon, Sage Northcutt was knocked out in about as much time as it took to introduce him Friday.
Twenty-nine seconds. That’s all it took for Sage Northcutt’s ONE Championship debut to come and go. Unfortunately for Northcutt, however, he was on the wrong end of a knockout hook delivered with emphasis by opponent Cosmo Alexandre. Cosmo hit Northcutt. Northcutt hit the floor. It took less than thirty seconds. It all went down in Singapore, at ONE Championship’s Enter the Dragon card.
Less than half a minute, and Northcutt had been poster-ized. It’s become a serious hazard for UFC fighters trying their hand with the Asian MMA powerhouse. Like Eddie Alvarez and Yushin Okami before him, ‘Super’ Sage was picked up with plenty of fanfare. Paraded around Asia, and quoted as saying how “everyone in Asia is amazing.” Well, maybe not Cosmo Alexandre now. Not after the counter that dropped Northcutt’s stock in a heartbeat.
Absolutely vicious KO by Cosmo. Countered Sage's jab with the overhand right and sent him to the dark land. #EnterTheDragon pic.twitter.com/oR1iapyUud
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 17, 2019
For Northcutt, who face-planted after the knockout blow, there will be some serious soul-searching moving forward. There’s no friendly match-making for the young star in ONE, it seems. Fighters fans in the west are completely oblivious to are dangerous, legitimate threats. Ones who represent a high risk, low reward scenario for a fighter still developing, but already expected to both act like a star, and win like one.
So far, only Demetrious Johnson has seemed immune to the ONE curse. Then again, Johnson is the best fighter in the world. Northcutt is still developing, and he showed that Friday at ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon.
Brazilian kickboxer (with nearly 70 wins) Cosmo Alexandre, meanwhile, improved to 8-1 with the win. Undefeated in MMA since a loss in his pro debut, Alexandre now gets to bask in the moment. He may also be able to boost himself into title contention off the win, although ONE’s lightweight grand prix is still ongoing.
Official Result: Cosmo Alexandre def. Sage Northcutt by knockout, Round 1, 0:29
