UFC President Dana White has spoken out to urge Sage Northcutt to retire from MMA, even though he’s only 23-years-old.
White opted not to match ONE FC’s contract offer when Northcutt’s deal came up for renewal late last year, and ‘Super’ Sage has since gone on to have a disastrous debut in the Asian-based promotion, being knocked out in just 29 seconds by Cosmo Alexandre, with the knockout blow leaving his face shattered in 30 pieces and requiring lengthy surgery afterwards.
Northcutt is now well on the road to recovery, but his old boss, who discovered him on his ‘Lookin’ For A Fight’ series is warning that he should seriously consider exploring other opportunities outside of fighting.
“I would really like to see Sage Northcutt retire,” White told reporters gathered for UFC 238. “I hope he does. (He’s a) good looking, charismatic kid, smart. He was an engineer, taking college to be an engineer. He’s got a lot going on in his life. This isn’t the sport for him. I don’t want to sound like I’m (expletive) all over the guy, because I really like the kid a lot, but this isn’t the sport for him. I would love to see him retire before he seriously gets hurt.”
White then went on to confirm that he simply believes that the young star doesn’t have what it takes to be successful in MMA.
“Yeah (I don’t think he’s good enough),” White said. “It’s not that the kid doesn’t have some talent. He does have some talent. This isn’t the sport for him. He needs to retire. Hopefully the people that surround him listen to what I’m saying and set this kid on another path in life, because he can literally do whatever he wants to do. He’s young, he’s smart. Some people have to fight. Sage Northcutt doesn’t have to fight.”
In the same discussion, White also said that it was also time for a veteran star, BJ Penn to hang up his gloves too.
“I want BJ to retire. I love BJ Penn. BJ Penn is one of the legends of the sport. This is a young man’s game. I gave him a lot of opportunities because he’s B.J. and because of the relationship that I’ve had with BJ. You know, his entire career and before that, but I can’t do that again.”
