Sage Northcutt no longer with the UFC according to Dana White

The next cage Sage Northcutt steps into will not be the UFC’s Octagon.

That’s according to President Dana White who told the UFC Unfiltered podcast this week that that the young fighter will not be re-signing with the promotion.

“We let Sage go” White explained (transcript via MMA Nytt). “Sage is young and Sage needs some work. Let him get some work in some other organizations and we will see where this kid ends up in a couple of years. Maybe we will pick him back up again. His contract was up so we let him go.”

Sage Northcutt (11-2) is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Zak Ottow at UFC Fight Night 133 in July, which pushed his winning streak to three straight. The 22-year-old amassed a 6-2 record with the UFC.

Northcutt signed with the UFC in 2015 after an impressive 4-0 run — all first-round finishes — under the Legacy FC banner. In his promotional debut, Northcutt needed just 54-seconds to finish Francisco Trevino at UFC 192 in October of 2015. Following wins over Trevino and Cody Pfister, the Northcutt hype train was briefly derailed after he lost to short-notice replacement opponent Bryan Barberena at UFC on FOX 18.

Since then, Sage Northcutt has gone 4-1 in the UFC, with wins over Ottow, Thibault Gouti and Michel Quinones. The last time Northcutt fought outside the UFC was in Aug. 2015.

Having parted ways with the UFC, one potential destination for Northcutt could be ONE Championship. The young fighter attended the ONE: Heart of the Lion fight week festivities in early November, and when asked about signing with the promotion admitted that it would “be cool.” 

Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/27/2018.