Urijah Faber has cleared the air on Sage Northcutt recently pulling out of a ONE Championship card, and he’s also weighed in on Conor McGregor’s next fight.
Faber helps train Sage Northcutt at Team Alpha Male. Sage was scheduled to meet Shinya Aoki at ONE 165 on January 28. Things appeared to be on track until Sage was told his father, Mark, and coach Fabio Prado wouldn’t be able to corner him due to visa issues. Northcutt ultimately decided against fighting on the card and he was replaced by John Lineker.
Middle Easy’s James Lynch recently spoke to Urijah Faber, who discussed the situation and how Sage Northcutt was feeling on the day he was scheduled to fight.
Urijah Faber Reflects On Sage Northcutt-ONE 165 Situation
Faber said that things ended up not working out due to “miscommunication.” He revealed when he heard the visa news.
“There’s a lot of misinterpretation there,” Faber said. “I think if you watch Chatri’s interview he kind of said the way it was. There was a last-minute hiccup in the visas of Fabio Prado and Mr. Mark Northcutt, Sage’s dad. So, at 10:30 at night in Japan, we learned that they were not gonna be able to be in the corner. I got a message around 11:30 from Mark that Sage was not gonna fight, and I talked to him face-to-face and kinda got the lowdown on what was going on. There was a lot of miscommunication and things like that.”
Faber dismissed rumors that he was deported from Japan because he didn’t have the same issues that Mark Northcutt and Fabio Prado experienced.
“I was cleared to corner, I was cleared to be in the corner if Sage did wanna fight.” Faber said. “I didn’t actually get to talk to Sage face-to-face until about one o’clock in the afternoon on fight day, and the general consensus was that he did not feel comfortable fighting with a couple different things that had happened.”
Conor McGregor’s Next Fight
Faber was then more than happy to weigh in on Conor McGregor’s next bout when asked for his opinion. “The California Kid” believes the “Notorious” one will indeed return to the Octagon, and he thinks the UFC’s initial plan should stick.
“Well, there’s a lot of hype around the fight with [Michael] Chandler,” Faber said. “I think Chandler would love that and I think it’d be good for him as well. I believe Conor is fighting. I actually do talk to Conor on a fairly regular basis, and I actually just sent him out a Rollbot. I’ve seen guys train, he’s very smooth with his jiu-jitsu. He’s obviously been taking it serious, he looks in great shape. I think he wants to fight.”
There is another marquee fight that Faber has in mind for McGregor.
“See [Nate] Diaz do it again, they’ve got that trilogy,” Faber said. “A third one needs to happen. I think they’re both kind of in a position where that fight would make sense for them monetarily, and with something to prove.”
There is no official word on what McGregor will do next as far as UFC business is concerned. McGregor claimed he was fighting Michael Chandler on June 29 at middleweight, but UFC CEO Dana White denied that claim.
Here is our full video interview with Urijah Faber:
