I’ll take three titles, Mr. Sityodtong
Recent ONE Championship signee Sage Northcutt as high aspirations for his time in the new promotion, and in multiple disciplines. While the latest trend in MMA has been for champions to look for titles in multiple weight classes, Northcutt wants to earn championships in multiple sports/disciplines. He told Luke Thomas on “The MMA Hour” this week that he wants ONE titles in MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing.
“I want to be the champion in MMA, I want to be the champion in Muay Thai and kickboxing,” Northcutt said. “I want to do it all. And I think that ONE Championship is going to be really cool because I believe that I’m going to display my different skills in each of those and I believe be the champ in each of those. I think it’s the perfect league.”
Northcutt also shared frustrations with the negotiation process with UFC at the end of his run there.
“I had scheduled a fight and they had tried to re-sign me, I guess, and we were negotiating with them and they said we’re going to move you to this card, and then the next card, and then it got moved to the next card to another card and then I finally got to fight, so the time frame kept being put off and put off and put off.”
Northcutt doesn’t have an opponent yet, but he is slated to make his ONE debut early next year.
Final UFC on FOX ratings drop from overnights
In a rare occurrence, the final UFC on FOX ratings from Saturday night were down from the initial overnight projections. The final average viewership was 1.828 million viewers, which includes the overrun from 10 PM ET until about 10:30. The overnight rating was 2.153 million viewers. Typically the final rating is a little higher than the overnight rating.
The overnight rating was the highest in about two years but now this final number is slightly down from the December show from a year ago that was headlined by Rafael dos Anjos vs. Robbie Lawler.
Wednesday Notebook
-UFC will be launching a meal delivery program for fighters to help athletes manage nutrition during fight camps and the weight-cutting process.
–UFC welterweight Stefan Sekulić has been suspended two years for a USADA violation. He failed an in-competition test for drostanolone surrounding his Sept. 15 loss in Moscow to Ramazan Emeev.
Fight Announcements
-Weber Almeida vs. Odan Chinchilla at Bellator 213 on Jan. 26 from Los Angeles, CA.
-Jack Marshman vs. John Phillips at UFC London on March 16.
Latest Podcasts (copy this link to your podcast app to subscribe to all MMATorch podcasts)
MMATorch Today w/David McGrath 12/17
MMA Math w/Cole Henry and Patrick Shaheen 12/18
In case you missed it
–The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Bellator 212/213, and UFC on FOX 31
–What is the most positive thing to come from UFC’s relationship with FOX?
–What is the most negative thing to come from UFC’s relationship with FOX?
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