Northcutt and PVZ in race to become youngest UFC champion

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones holds the record for youngest champion in the history of the league. He was 23 when he knocked out Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua on on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128.

Sage Northcutt is just 19 and 6-0 in MMA. He is 1-0 in the UFC and if the odds are correct (he is a -1,250 favorite) he will remain undefeated after fighting Cody Pfister at UFC Fight Night 80: Namajunas vs. VanZant on Thursday.

During a recent media scrum, Northcutt said he wants to break Jones’ record.

“What I am looking at is a long-term thing,” said Northcutt, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting. “I’m trying to have not only as many fights as I can right now, because you don’t know when the end of your career could be, but also to be able to hopefully be the UFC champion one day, and I’d like to be the youngest.”

“I think [my debut] went just perfectly, as planned, how it should’ve gone, and it don’t think it really could’ve gone any better than what it went. [But] there’s always something to correct in your gameplan, even if it’s just, let’s say your left big toe is not moving as fast as your whole foot or something. There’s always little things to correct, so I’m always looking to correct those (things) and make myself better. Hopefully I can show that this Thursday, too.”

However, Northcutt is not the only fighter on the card with the record breaking goal.

I can’t wait to take the next step of winning fights and getting more fans,” said UFC strawweight Paige VanZant to Sherdog in August. “I was made for the spotlight at a very young age. I’m ready to continue that path.

I need to remind myself and remind people that this is my ride. This is my journey. It’s up to me what fights I take. I’m going to take my time. I’m 21 years old. I still have two years to be the youngest belt holder if I wanted to.

So the race is on. First leg is Thursday.