Sage Northcutt suffered his first defeat in the organisation when he was submitted by late replacement Bryan Barberena at UFC Fight Night in New Jersey.
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“I was ready to keep going and doing what I was doing, anyway”, he said. Instead, it was more a product of just how hyped Northcutt was after his first two fights in the UFC. “That’s all I can say”.
Barberena weathered Northcutt’s right hands to start the fight and seemed to get stronger as Round 1 went on. Barberena stuffed the takedown, pushing Northcutt to the center of the cage.
Early in the second, Barberena tagged Northcutt and open a cut over his right eye.
Just when everyone expected Barberena to press down on Northcutt’s left leg and move to mount or side mount, Northcutt unexpectedly tapped under what appeared to be very little pressure. Barberena landed a quick hook, backing Northcutt up.
In the second round, Northcutt attempted a spinning kick after missing on a punch and immediately was pounced on. He transitioned to side control and continued delivering damage.
“I got my own hype behind me”, Barberena said. “My family, friends and teammates all believed and knew I could do it. This is something I practice in the training room”.
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Although he never fully passed Northcutt’s guard, Barberena still tied him up with an arm triangle, shades of Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, forcing Northcutt to tap out and lose his rising star status. “I felt I had a tight bite on the choke, and it was only getting tighter. I want to thank my camp, the MMA Lab. We came, we dominated!”
