ONE Championship ace Sage Northcutt left behind Hollywood ambitions for a shot at world title glory in Asia
AFTER failing to crack Hollywood Sage Northcutt travelled nearly 10,000 miles to have a bash at ONE Championship.
In November Northcutt, 23, left the UFC after his contract expired and joined Asia’s largest global sports media property.
The move came nine months after it was revealed the blonde MMA ace had been snubbed for the part of Ivan Drago’s son in Creed 2.
Despite being overlooked for the Hollywood role “Super Sage” will not give up his big screen dreams and hopes his actress girlfriend Amanda Leighton can help him out with future roles.
Northcutt told SunSport: “I sent in an audition tape for the Creed 2 role and they ended up going with a different-looking guy – a lot of fans said I looked like Ivan Drago.
“They went with a different guy and it was a great movie but that was only one thing – I think there’s going to be some great things in store for me.
“Everything happens for a reason and this was before I was fighting for ONE Champonship, now I’m so happy to be here.
“I wasn’t trying to pursue acting it was just something that came up. My girlfriend is an actress, she’s so talented so I could definitely see her helping me out.
“You want to focus on your fighting but some people have hobbies and fun things they like to do. For me, it could be acting, or riding motocross or fishing.”
Despite only being five years and 13 fights into his professional MMA career, devout Christian Northcutt is one of the most recognisable names in the sport due to his boyish good looks and impeccable manners.
The former karate specialist became one of the biggest characters in UFC.
But the quiet and polite Northcutt has no interest in foul language and fabricated feuds – rather opting for the traditional martial arts values he believes ONE Championship and its founder Chatri Chatri Sityodtong demand.
Northcutt added: “I decided to move over to Asia with ONE Championship as the whole organisation is based on respect, honour and integrity which is a bunch of values that I myself respect.
“I came over here for an event and met with Mr Chatri and saw his love for the sport and how he envisages not only the sport but all martial arts for people around the world to look up to.
“There’s not any trash talking, which I like as I don’t trash talk people and ONE Championship is based on respect.
“Even after a fight if someone loses or whatever happens they have respect for each other, shaking their hands, helping them up.
“I believe ONE Championship is going to come over to America and bring a whole other aspect.
“I feel like when I put my mind to things and my goal I feel like I can do anything – right now I’m focused on Cosmo Alexandre.
“The fight I watched here in Singapore before I signed was really respectful – no people were booing and every time someone started to have stalemate the referee would give a card for stalling.”
Northcutt finds himself under the watchful eye of UFC legend and former WEC champion Urijah Faber.
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Having seen the rise in MMA over in the States, Team Alpha Male chief Faber conceded to SunSport that some of the UFC stars’ antics are not bad for business.
He said: “I don’t think what (Conor) McGregor and Khabib (Nurmagomedov) have done in the past is bad for the sport – people love conflict, people like all the tabloid stuff, they get a kick out of it.
“For Sage he’s a real athlete, a world champion and someone who feels he will fit in here in Asia and it was a family decision from his dad and his mum.”