Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight up-and-comer, Sage Northcutt, has to be feeling pretty good after last month’s unanimous decision win over Thibault Gouti at UFC Austin on FOX Sports 1.
Get complete UFC Fight Night 126 results here.
Not only was the “Super” win his second straight, his performance led to a major ratings boost on the cable television network. And to think none of it would have happened had the 22 year-old Northcutt not been able to outrun a pack of hungry bears.
From his conversation with Submission Radio:
“One of the first times that I was up in Sacramento, California, I was up in the mountains - and this is almost towards the Lake Tahoe area - I’m up in the mountains, I went running and climbed this waterfall by myself. I’m in the middle of nowhere, I climbed about two miles past the waterfall, and all of a sudden everything gets real quiet. Well, I didn’t know at the time, but there’s black bears up there. So I heard something grunting. All I had was a little tiny knife on me just for like protection, just because I need it, but it couldn’t do anything to a black bear, I don’t think. So, what I did was I hid behind the water that was coming out of the waterfall, and it was absolutely freezing. So, I hid for about five minutes. I didn’t move. And when I heard the grunting stop I just took off sprinting. I literally sprinted two miles as fast as I could, hiked down the waterfall and made it back to my truck. So that was a crazy story because I felt like I was gonna get eaten. It was pretty crazy because at first I was like, maybe it’s a cougar, maybe it’s something... I didn’t know what it was. And I’m over behind the waterfall where the water’s coming out, and I take my phone out and I’m trying to google if there’s bears in California. And then I remembered, like, I saw a statue of a bear. It was a gold bear or a silver bear in Sacramento like an hour and a half away. So I’m like OK, like, there’s gotta be bears. So then I just waited, I was completely quiet and didn’t move. And then when it stopped, I was, my heart was definitely racing cause I took off so fast. My adrenalin was going so much I felt like I was floating on my feet, like, flying.”
Not to be overly morbid, but solo hiking can be fatal.
Northcutt (10-2) wants to increase his fight schedule but believes the cut to 155 pounds is too taxing for his frame, which to be fair, is completely shredded before his weight cut. Therefore, moving back up to welterweight will be less strenuous on his body and increase his career longevity.
No word yet on when “Super” will make his return to the cage and no opponent is on the table at this time; however, considering the numbers he was able to pull on FOX Sports 1, you can expect to see him back sooner, rather than later.
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