Sage Northcutt
Age: 22
Nationality: American
MMA Record: 10-2
UFC Record: 5-2
Notable Wins: Cody Pfister
Notable Losses: Bryan Barberena, Mickey Gall
Last Fight: Decision win over Thibault Gouti
Fighter Profile: One of the UFC’s most popular young prospects, Northcutt’s UFC career has been a tale of two. Two weight classes, that is. As a lightweight we’ve seen Northcutt got undefeated and overall look pretty solid, displaying both some high-level striking skills as well as a solid ground game. But at welterweight we just haven’t seen the same fighter as both his losses came at a higher weight when his submission defense was exposed. Northcutt is still really young and has plenty of time to improve his overall game, and the move to Team Alpha Male has looked good for him so far. But I don’t know why he continues to take these fights at welterweight when he looks way better at lightweight. Perhaps it’s a weight-cutting thing and he’s growing out of his frame but the facts are that Northcutt is a better fighter at 155lbs and his move back to 170lbs concerns me.
Zak Ottow
Age: 31
Nationality: American
MMA Record: 16-5
UFC Record: 3-2
Notable Wins: Mike Pyle, Josh Burkman
Notable Losses: Sergio Moraes, Li Jingliang, Jacob Volkmann
Last Fight: TKO win over Mike Pyle
Fighter Profile: A gatekeeper-type of fighter in the welterweight division, Ottow’s first three UFC bouts went the distance to split decisions each time before he finally started opening up in his last two bouts. He was knocked out by Jingliang but he bounced back with a knockout win over Pyle, which was the biggest win of Ottow’s career so far and a win that ended Pyle’s career. Ottow is a well-rounded fighter with solid striking, wrestling and submission skills. He came to the UFC as a finisher and hopefully the win over Pyle will help him gain some confidence and momentum again. Ottow has his flaws, but he’s a pretty solid fighter all around and he should be able to stick around the UFC welterweight division for a little while longer at least.
Fight Breakdown: I think this is another tough test for Northcutt and while I do think it’s a winnable fight for him, I still think he finds a way to lose. Northcutt has the striking advantage in this fight and could catch Ottow on the chin, but his ground game has looked really bad at 170lbs and I think Ottow is smart enough to try and exploit that. I think Ottow eats some early shots from Northcutt and takes him to the mat where I think he has the upper hand with his submissions. I think Ottow should be the bigger man here and the size advantage with this fight taking place at welterweight should help him out. I see Ottow getting Northcutt to the mat and latching in a choke to finish the fight. And if that happens I hope Northcutt sticks at 155lbs permanently afterwards because I just don’t like him at 170lbs.
Prediction: Zak Ottow via submission
