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The dream is over: Sage Northcutt has been released by the UFC. After just over three years with the promotion, Northcutt’s boss Dana White confirmed that the UFC would not be bringing back the fighter. The UFC will now have to find a new golden retriever.


White announced the sad news on today’s episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast (54:05 mark):

“We let Sage go. Sage is young, and Sage needs some work. Let him get some work in one of these other organizations, and we will see where this kid ends up in a couple of years. Maybe we will pick him back up again.”


Northcutt had a respectable 6-2 record under the UFC banner, bouncing between lightweight and welterweight without ever quite settling at either division. He never really was able to convert his outlandish athleticism into a productive or defensively sound fighting style, and both of his losses came on rather avoidable submissions. Still, he was riding a three-fight winning streak when his contract expired in September, and you’d think that the same UFC that aggressively promoted Northcutt since he was 19, and committed to feeding him a stream of beatable opponents, would be interested in keeping him around once he started to put together a decent run. But the UFC has never been exactly what you’d call “forward-thinking.”

For his part, Northcutt doesn’t seem too down on a possible move to another promotion, as he recently noted that he stands to make much more money in ONE or Bellator.

Always remember: “Words are powerful.”



Please pray for him.