When Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang send off John Wayne Parr to retirement partially frustrated that he did not to get the results he wanted, the former ONE Lightweight World Champion immediately called out Sage Northcutt for a karate versus wushu fight under Muay Thai rules right after after his win at ONE: X.
The 38-year-old describes the bout as a good fight. “It’s a win-win situation for us. He’s a striker, a karate champion. On the other hand, I’m from wushu. And we’ll be fighting in a different world with Muay Thai rules,” Folayag stated. “It will truly test our skills. I’m sure he loves a challenge and I see this one as entertaining.”
Who is Northcutt? Here’s his profile per ONE Championship:
“Multiple-time Karate World Champion Sage Northcutt stands tall among the brightest young mixed martial arts stars of today. A lifelong martial artist, Northcutt has been training under the instruction of his father ever since he was 4 years old, and he was an incredibly accomplished athlete in the discipline of karate. He won an astounding 77 World Titles as a youth and was even inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 2012.
Despite being thrust into the spotlight from such a young age, the man who would come to be known as “Super” never lost his focus. He turned his stunning success in karate into an impressive professional career, putting together an undefeated 15-0 kickboxing record while also competing in mixed martial arts.
Northcutt rose to prominence quickly in mixed martial arts, beginning his slate with seven straight wins in top North American promotions. In 2018, he joined the world’s best martial artists in ONE Championship on the back of three straight victories and looks set to continue shining on the global stage with his winning combination of athleticism, skill, and charisma.”
Northcutt owns an 11-3 professional record in mixed martial arts, five of his his victories came via knockouts and three by submissions. Eight of these were fought under the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was 6-2 in these bouts.
The last time the global fan base saw the Katy, Texas, native in action was when he made his promotional debut at ONE: Enter the Dragon on May 2019.
Northcutt was up against Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexandre in a welterweight contest, but he suffered an early knockout along with serious facial injuries that kept him out of action for a while.
It was disclosed by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong that Northcutt was offered an opportunity to participate in ONE: X but he turned it down. He was offered by the promotion to take on Shinya Aoki or Folayang himself.
It turned out, Folayang facing the Muay Thai icon Parr in the latter’s retirement match was a better option than a match with Northcutt.
Northcutt was also supposed to appear during “ONE on TNT IV” on April 28, 2021 against Aoki but suffering from the lingering effects of COVID-19 forced him to withdraw from the scheduled lightweight mixed martial arts matchup.
This paved way for the Aoki and Folayang triology. Folayang was initially slated to battle Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama on the same bill, but Akiyama has also been forced to the sidelines due to injury.
Northcutt was also rumored to drop two divisions down and campaign as a featherweight.
By Armando M. Bolislis
