The Texas-born star has been away from action since losing his ONE debut. But he will drop down to lightweight in his return to face Ahmed Mujtaba in his highly-anticipated return. But Northcutt does not expect any ring rust after his lengthy delay as he has been in the gym excitedly training for his return.

“I just had some time [to] take care of some personal things. It’s going to be exciting getting back in there. I’ll only be 26 years old, having 14 professional MMA fights, so I’m super excited. I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m still so young that I can have a lot of fights. I’m really excited to be fighting for ONE Championship for the first U.S. card. I think that’s really cool,” said Northcutt.

“I’ve been training. I’ve taken care of a few personal things. Everybody knows that COVID stuff threw everything into a loop, especially with a lot of people’s jobs and stuff. That was pretty interesting. But I’m always training, year-round, all the time. Always staying in shape and just training a lot.”

His Pakistani opponent will not be coming to be a punching bag. Mujtaba has improved and become a name to watch in the division while the Team Alpha Male representative has been away from the Circle.

And Northcutt has taken notice of his two recent victories on the global stage.

“I’ve never made predictions for a fight, that’s not just me, not my kind of personality. But wherever the fight leads versus Ahmed, wherever the fight leads, I’m training hard for any section of the fight that might be so,” said Northcutt.

“He has improved. He has improved quite a bit, and I’m absolutely watching tape for sure. The knockout, that was a good one.”

After his debut ended in shocking fashion, Northcutt is motivated to show ONE what he can do in his return. The American star wants to make an impact in his comeback match and regain some of the shine he enjoyed before his injury.

While preparing for three hard rounds against Mujtaba, Northcutt is gunning for a finish. “Super” Sage wants to ignite the 1stBank Center audience and put himself right into the hunt in the lightweight division.

“[I’m] ready to go out there and show ONE Championship what they signed, [that] I’m able to go out there and perform. To meet the expectations of what they want, that’s what I want to do out there. It’s to go out there and put on a great performance and make ONE Championship [happy] with what they signed,” said Northcutt.

“Oh man, anybody would say a finish, that’s for sure. Whether it’s a submission, whether it’s ground-and-pound or it’s a knockout, whatever it is, everybody wants a finish. That would be the ideal way, but you know I’m training for any aspect out there, so that way, I’m prepared.”

ONE Fight Night 10 airs live on Prime Video on Friday, May 5. The action begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and is free for all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers.

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