BROMFIELD, CO – In the wake of delivering his hook to Ahmed Mojtaba at ONE Fight Night 10 on Friday, “Super” Sage Northcutt knows who he wants next.
Northcutt (12-3) returned to action for the first time in four years, almost to date, in the Colorado-based event, ONE’s first on US soil. The night and Northcutt’s return was a success, with Sage getting the job done in under a minute.
Being able to show off some of his new wrestling skills in the match was a plus for the optimistic Northcutt, who spoke to the media including Cageside Press at the ONE Fight Night 10 conference after the fight.
He noted that the fight “was definitely fast. I’ve been working on my grappling a lot. So over the last few years I’ve been really improving it, working on it a lot. So I’m really excited that I was able to win there, get submission, get some of this wrestling.
For whoever wants after that, Northcutt is never one to do callouts or sloppy talk, pretty much ever. But since he had a previous match with a Japanese legend in the sport, he would like to win that back.
“I had a fight, I had a fight with Shinya Aoki, and I think it’s going to be very exciting,” Northcott said. “Looking from my ends now, you can see that my grappling has improved a lot, and I should show some wrestling.”
“It’s a great grapple, and I think it’s going to be a really exciting match.”
ONE President and CEO Chatri Sityodtong’s ears perked up at the mention of Aoki.
“I think that would be great, a great fight. So I want to have that fight,” Sitiodtong said. “I just have to talk to Shinya. It would be great. Shinya vs. Sage, especially in Japan, will blow up Japan.”
Watch the full ONE Fight Night 10 post-fight press conference with Sage Northcutt and Tye Ruotolo above.