Sage Northcutt claimed his second victory inside the Octagon tonight at UFC Fight Night 80 with a second round guillotine choke tapping out Cody Pfister.
Round One:
Pfister tries to come forward and close the distance quickly and Northcutt tries to keep him away with kicks. However, Pfister is undeterred and does get Northcutt to the mat.
So, we’re going to see how Northcutt does off his back here. He decides to just tie up Pfister and for now is doing a good job of completely trapping his opponent’s arms. Pfister does manage to break free though and starts to land some solid elbow from half guard.
Northcutt works him to full guard. Ref warns Pfister to stay busy. Pfister looks to pass back to half guard. He lands some left hands to the body and head and Northcutt has him back to full guard. Pfister landing some more body shots and it’s perhaps a little unfair to him that the ref decides to stand them up.
Rather than choosing to strike now that he’s up, Northcutt opts to fire straight into a takedown of his own and gets it. He looks more comfortable on top than he did from his back as he starts to land some solid elbow from half guard.
Northcutt gradually works into full mount. Nice work from Northcutt, but he’s back to half guard now and as Pfister tries to get out from under him Northcutt puts together some strikes and that’s the end of the round.
Round Two:
Pfister shouting excitedely as the round gets ready to start and Northcutt just smiles. Pfister comes forward aggressively, but Northcutt takes him down. Pfister up and despite being in a partial guillotine he looks for his own takedown.
As Pfister drives him to the mat Northcutt fully locks up the guillotine choke and it’s in tight. Pfister made a blunder there driving for that takedown and he’s paid the price, being forced to tap out with 0.41mins of the second round as Northcutt claims his second victory inside the Octagon.
Northcutt’s definitely rough around the edges, particuarly with takedown defense and on his back, but when you consider he’s just 19 years of age his potential is limitless. The UFC will have to be careful with how they proceed with him though as he needs to be given time to develop.
