Sage Northcutt withdraws from college to focus on UFC career full time

At 21 years of age, Sage Northcutt has put fighting at the top of his priority list, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight phenom recently revealed that he has withdrawn from college to focus on his blossoming mixed martial arts (MMA) career full time.

“Actually, I withdrew from school. For now, no more classes. I am just going to focus full time on fighting, going out there and winning, putting on a best show and doing the best I can do,” he said during a recent interview on The MMA Hour.

Northcutt was studying Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M and says that though his academics will be put on hold for the moment, he intends on returning to school at a later date.

“Later on, if I want to do the school later, then I can. For now, I am going to take this seriously and make sure I can make the most of it.”

As for what his parents thought of the decision, they supported him 100 percent, as “Super” says there is only a small window of opportunity to make it big in the combat sports world.

“They think it’s smart because this is a big opportunity. You only get on chance at this. And to do two things at once, they know how hard that is with school, petroleum engineering, and fighting at the same time, it’s super tough. So, focus on one and you can be much better at that one for sure,” explained Sage.

Still, the striking specialist doesn’t blame trying to juggle his college carer with fighting for his previous losses.

“That could’ve been a little bit of an issue, but, there are no excuses. I’m just going to go out there and put all of my effort into this and make sure I’m the best I can be all around.”

After starting his UFC career with two impressive finishes, Northuctt has dropped two of his last three bouts including his most recent submission loss to Mickey Gall. He will look to turn it back around when he faces Claudio Puelles in a lightweight bout on July 29, 2017 at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California.

Speaking of college, UFC women’s strawweight contender Tecia Torres recently concluded her studies, receiving a Masters Degree in Criminology.