Sage Northcutt’s tenure with ONE Championship, marred by injury and inactivity, has come to an end.
Northcutt (12-3) was a budding star for the UFC when, in 2018, he jumped ship to rival promotion ONE Championship as a free agent, on the strength of a 6-2 record and on a three-fight win streak at the time. His debut against Cosmo Alexandre in 2019 was an unmitigated disaster, however, with Northcutt knocked out and left suffering facial fractures.
He was then hospitalized with COVID-19, cancelling a planned comeback against Shinya Aoki in 2021 as the effects of the viral disease lingered.
In 2023, Northcutt finally stepped into the ONE Championship cage for the second time, submitting the little-known Ahmed Mujtaba with a heel hook to claim a Performance of the Night bonus.
Northcutt was scheduled to face Aoki once again in March of this year, in Tokyo. Visa troubles saw him pulled from that bout. And on Friday, both fighter and promotion confirmed they had amicably parted ways.
“Excited for 2025 and looking forward to having some big fights,” Northcutt wrote on social media, without specifying where those fights might come.
In a brief statement on their official website quoted by Northcutt, ONE officials wrote simply “ONE Championship and Sage Northcutt have mutually agreed to his release from the organization. ONE wishes Northcutt the best in his future endeavors.”
Earlier this month, Northcutt’s declaration of support for the proposed UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement came to light. In it, Northcutt stated that he “enthusiastically supported” the settlement, as well as saying that “As a professional fighter, I have only had one fight in the last five plus years and have not earned a steady income. Receiving settlement funds now would truly be life-changing money for me and for other members of the class. It would put me on firmer financial footing and allow me to purchase a home near my training camp in Northern California.”
