Sage Northcutt loses to Bryan Barberena at UFC on Fox 18

Sage Northcutt takes down Bryan Barberena in the first round of their welterweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at the Prudential Center on Jan. 30, 2016 in Newark, N.J. Credit: Getty Images / Elsa
NEWARK, N.J. — Many expected to see 19-year-old phenom Sage Northcutt flipping in the Octagon after his matchup with short-notice replacement Bryan Barberena at UFC on Fox 18 on Saturday night.
Instead, it was Barberena flipping, well, somersaulting, on the canvas after submitting Northcutt via arm triangle choke at 3:06 of the second round of their welterweight bout at the Prudential Center.
It’s the first career loss for Northcutt (7-1), who has been heavily promoted since making his UFC debut last October.
“I’m just disappointed,” Northcutt said. “That’s all I can say.”
After a few short exchanges, Northcutt landed a right hand that threw Barberena off-balance enough for Northcutt to jump. After a quick battle on the fence, Northcutt threw Barberena to the ground and attempted to take his opponent’s back but couldn’t secure the position.
Northcutt was able to open a cut on his opponent’s forehead and continued to pressure, but he took a few strong shots himself before going for another takedown. With less than a minute in the round, it was Barberena (11-3) who took Northcutt down for a few seconds.
In the second round, Northcutt attempted a spinning kick after missing on a punch and immediately was pounced on. Barberena was able to secure position in Northcutt’s guard, landing short punches and elbows. He transitioned to side control and continued delivering damage. After a few minutes moving between half-guard and side-control, Barberena went for an arm triangle from half-guard. It didn’t appear completely secured from the awkward position, but it was on tight enough to make Northcutt tap.
“It feels great to beat a guy with that hype, but I have 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. I felt like he was slipping in tighter and I knew he was going to tap. I want to thank my camp, The MMA Lab. We came, we dominated!”
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