“Super” Sage Northcutt Has Found His Kryptonite

UFC usually tries to stack their FOX shows with exciting fights and exciting fighters, and last Saturday’s effort from Newark, New Jersey, because New York still hates money and combat sports relevancy, was no different.

The main event saw Anthony “Rumble” Johnson rumble towards another shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship when he knocked out Ryan Bader with punches from the mount. It really shouldn’t have been that shocking of a result, as no one has been able to stop Rumble at 205 other than current champ Daniel Cormier, who is expected to face Jon Jones again really soon. Rumble should be expected to face the winner of that fight because, really, who else is he going to fight? Glover Texeira? Alexander Gustafsson, again? …CM Punk?

We also saw “Big” Ben Rothwell make his name that much bigger by submitting the mighty Josh Barnett. After a rough first round that saw him get punched in the face a lot, Rothwell turned the fight around in the second by securing Barnett’s neck on a takedown attempt and dragging him against the cage to squeeze the very essence out of the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. It was an inspiring performance that makes one think that, provided Ben’s chin continues to hold up, maybe he’s a title contender after all.

I hear Ben’s going to be matched up next with that masked dude who wrestled Barnett at the open workouts. Should be a good one.

Okay, enough about those nobodies. Let’s discuss the real major development coming out of Saturday:

Sage Northcutt lost, you guys. He lost, and it was bad.

It was as if you could hear the sound of one thousand hair care product endorsement deals crying out before being silenced forever…

So, what happened? Bryan Barberena happened. Barberena, teammate of Benson Henderson, of Bellator fame, and with a win in the UFC over Jake Ellenberger…’s brother, did not fear the myth that is Sage Northcutt. He stepped up on short notice to do battle with the kid with the good looks and the flashy moves and came ready to grind things out and push him to his limits.

Actually, it was more a case of Sage getting caught. He looked good in the first round, hurting Barberena with some hard punches and showing a little of his grappling game. Unfortunately, though, his grappling game is still a work in progress, as revealed in the second round when he failed to get back to his feet off a missed punch, allowing Barberena to take over. Bryan then started working in Sage’s guard, going for an arm triangle choke that he shouldn’t have been able to lock in from that position but was able to get enough of to make “Super” Sage super submit.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on submissions. I do know, though, that arm triangle chokes rarely work from guard, as it’s hard to get the optimal amount of torque from that position. However, when Joe Rogan, a BJJ black belt, is literally speechless on commentary because he can’t understand how Barberena could get Sage to tap with that choke from that position, it says something. Add in all the other criticism from fighters on social media who were equally amazed that anyone would tap from an arm triangle in guard and it starts to bring into question just how good Sage really is.

Or it brings into question just how big a bag of dicks many of Sage’s colleagues are. It’s one or the other.

Seriously, the response from the fighters over Sage’s loss has been quite interesting. Usually I would expect this level of vitriol from the fans, since we don’t like being told who to like, but the fighters have been particularly harsh. I don’t recall this amount of hate being levied at the UFC’s other young vanity project, Page VanZant, but she also lost to a much tougher opponent in Rose Namajunas and looked good in defeat.

It’s either that or some of the fighters still think they have a shot with her or something. I dunno. Just remember to wear Reebok on the first date and you’re in. Probably.

Am I happy that Sage lost? In a way, but not in the way that so many people jumping for joy are. Well…okay. Maybe I did smile a little when Sage tapped. It’s hard not to when you see someone that UFC has proclaimed is their next star and is given all this praise and all these accolades (and money) from Dana and Lorenzo before he’s done anything in the cage to deserve it. That’s not to say that a win over Cody Pfister isn’t impressive (PFEAR THE PFIST!) but it’s hardly worthy of earning what he’s been given up to this point.

Does that make me a sad, pathetic miscreant who only lives to see successful people fail because I could only wish to accomplish half of what someone like Sage has accomplished in his short life? Yep, but the same could be said for most of you. Just admit it. You’ll feel better.

The real reason I’m happy for Sage’s loss is that, after being strapped to a rocket and shot towards the sun for the last three months, Sage can finally descend back to Earth. The hype has been halted, which allows us to see what kind of fighter Sage really is.

How will Sage handle his first loss? Will he learn from it and use it to become a better fighter? Will he take his training to the next level, joining a top MMA gym, like Tristar, to shore up the holes in his grappling game? Or will he continue on as he’s been doing and enter his next fight with the same potential for catastrophe still presenting itself if he can’t prevent himself from ending up on his back?

It’s hard to say when Sage will fight again. This was his third fight in three months, which is a pretty rough schedule to maintain. Hopefully, he takes what he’s learned so far in his UFC journey and enjoys a nice break from the sport, working on improving his game at a more leisurely pace while he works on his engineering degree at Texas A&M.

Go get ‘em, you fighting…Aggie? The hell is an aggie? Wasn’t he from a Hanna-Barbera cartoon?

The kid is 19 and has already shown a lot of potential to be a real threat in this sport. He hasn’t even been in the UFC half a year and he already has the entire community talking about him. Whether that’s due to his ridiculously flashy moves or his sickening good looks or his naïvely nice personality that makes you immediately wonder if it’s an act or if there’s something wrong with him that he’s trying to hide, the fact remains that Sage Northcutt can make headlines without even trying and, if he can live up to his potential the way that someone like Conor McGregor has, there’s going to be a lot more money and praise coming his way in the future.

I wouldn’t celebrate too much, Tony Ferguson. You might be laughing at the kid who will be ruling your weight class in a few years.

Oh, and good luck with Khabib. You’re gonna need it.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.