The culture of extreme weight cutting in mixed martial arts has killed fighters, and injured countless others. And it may not work.
Sage Northcutt was spotted by UFC president Dana White at Legacy FC. A lifelong practitioner of karate, Sage, 5-0 in MMA, was training at a BJJ school. The assumption was he had to drop from welterweight to 155 to be competitive; his league debut at UFC 192 was his first at lightweight. After testing himself at both weights, ‘Super’ Sage had the best fight of his career on July 14, knocking out Zak ‘The Barbarian’ Ottow in Round 2 of theUFC Fight Night 133 co-main event.
During a recent appearance on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Northcutt said he never felt super at lightweight. Despite weighing in at 156 and entering the Octagon at around 175, Sage said fighting at 170 feels better.
Getting to fight at my natural weight, that was huge for me,” Sage explained, as transcribed by Jeff Cain for MMA Weekly. “I’ve had such a tough time making weight at 155 all the time. I’d make the weight, but I don’t feel like the same kind of Sage. My power in my punches, my explosion, my speed; it just doesn’t feel the same. I always have great cardio. That’s one thing, but it’s a little different having your natural weight to be able to just keep pushing. I just feel totally different out there.
Before the UFC, I was fighting at catchweights at 165 or 170. I decided that I wanted to go to 155 to have an advantage, or try to have as much of an advantage as I could to be one of the bigger 155ers. I walk around pretty lean all the time. I thought that would be a benefit, but even though I was undefeated at 155 – I’ve won five fights in the UFC at 155 – it just kind of played a toll on my body. I don’t feel like the same kind of Sage, same kind of exciting Sage I can be, and like finishing Sage. At 155 I don’t have that same kind of ability I don’t feel like at the moment.
At 155, I kind of feel, when I’m fighting out there, I just don’t feel like I have the right thinking ability. I kind of feel like my mind is foggy, if that makes sense. I don’t really know how to describe it. Maybe it’s the weight cut.”
The ideal thing of course would be for the UFC to add the new weight divisions, so fighters don’t have to jump from 155 all the way to 170 and from there to 185.
