#2 Sage Northcutt
Sage Northcutt is the golden boy of the UFC, a title that I believe he rightfully deserves. While regular kids played out in the park and watched TV, Sage and his sister travelled the country competing in Karate and Kickboxing tournaments and slaying the competition.
Mr Northcutt sure had a remarkably laborious and yet strangely odd childhood. While it would be presumptuous of us to assume how the father-son dynamic between Sage and his father actually is, it is fair to say that it has not been producing results expected from a UFC calibre fighter.
Equipped with good stand up skills but an understandably average ground game, Sage was always aware of the colossal hole that many a fighter on the roster would be glad to exploit. (Contain your imagination)
Maybe taking a massive leap of faith in his own mind, Sage left his dad's gym and guidance and sought out better and more knowledgeable mentors.
In his pursuit of excellence, Mr Northcutt joined the Tristar gym led by the great Firas Zahabi. While the progress he made was phenomenal, Sage missed the cordial environment at home and convinced himself (or was convinced) to leave the esteemed tutelage of Firas Zahabi.
Meanwhile, after the Barberena fight, it was obvious that the hole was a big one and was there for everyone to see. (Contain your imagination, Please)
Possibly realising this mistake, Sage Northcutt has now started training extensively at Roufusport, home to the former Lightweight king Anthony Pettis and the current Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who used the services of Sage expansively to train for his first title defence against Stephen Thompson.
However, it is a gym that’s not exactly renowned for its ground game speciality, and it will be interesting to see how Sage manages to cover this deficit in due time.
