Assault on UFC’s Sage Northcutt continues outside cage following loss

NEWARK, N.J. — Almost immediately, fighters rushed to social media to point out a belief Northcutt had succumbed to something far more real than a fictional radioactive element.

The overwhelming opinion of professionals, at least the ones who weighed in after the fight, appeared to be that Northcutt was either confused, or worse, lacked heart when he tapped out to an arm triangle choke from half guard, a maneuver that almost never ends a fight.

Las Vegas Kevin Lee has been one of the biggest critics of how Northcutt has been pushed by the organization.

"It's not that (Northcutt) lost, it's that he quit. It's exactly what I've been saying: The first time he faces some real (expletive) in his life, he quit," Lee posted on Twitter. "I'd rather go out on my shield than quit. There's no excuse for quitting."

The backlash from his contemporaries is at least partly driven by the fact Northcutt was discovered on the UFC-produced reality show "Looking For a Fight," and signed a lucrative contract after two impressive finishes in the organization.

Northcutt comes from a well-to-do family in Texas and with his spiked hair looks far more like a boy-band member than a professional fighter. He's polite to a fault and is rarely seen without his trademark smile.

Still, the criticisms were sharp.

"Lol what a joke," former UFC lightweight Ramsey Nijem posted. "(Northcutt) tapped out to a choke set up #whitebelt."

UFC middleweight Lorenz Larkin kept it quick.

"Lol ............... in half guard," he posted.

Roan Carneiro, a third-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu who competes in the UFC middleweight division, was shocked.

"Omg he (tapped) ??? And it was not tight enough," he posted. "It wasn't the right side."

Former NFL player and UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub was a bit more analytical in conveying the same message.

"I love Sage and he has a huge future but that wasn't a choke," he posted. "I call that giving up. Sorry kids."

The tweets could fill an entire section of the newspaper, but most are along the same line.

Northcutt himself has not addressed the fight on his popular social media accounts as of Sunday afternoon. He provided just a brief statement after the fight, which was released by the UFC.

"I'm just disappointed," he said. "That's all I can say."

Northcutt, who is studying petroleum engineering at Texas A&M, typically competes at lightweight. He took the fight at welterweight when his opponent had to pull out of the scheduled bout with injury and Barberena was offered as a replacement.

Northcutt was winning the fight when he went for a cartwheel kick early in the second round. It proved to be a critical mistake as he missed on the maneuver and Barberena pounced on Northcutt to keep him on the mat.

He was never able to get back to his feet.

For his part, Barberena says he was going to stay with the choke for as long as it took to secure it and it was only a matter of time before Northcutt had no choice in the matter.

He insists that despite the opinion of so many fighters on social media, he often submits training partners from the same position as the fight ended on Saturday.

Northcutt did have his defenders, too.

Unbeaten lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov took a shot at Tony Ferguson, who he will fight in October, for criticizing Northcutt's alleged lack of heart on Saturday night.

"Talk (expletive) about a 19 year old? You're jealous of him because he makes more money than you. You are a bum," Nurmagomedov posted. "@SageNorthcutt don't worry about all (the) jealous people. Keep working hard."

Ben Rothwell's second-round submission victory over Josh Barnett drew far more praise. He locked in a gogo choke, which was invented by one of his trainers, to force Barnett to tap to a choke for the first time in his lengthy career and, in turn, win his fourth straight fight.

Rothwell still hopes to secure a title shot, but he says his plan is just to beat every other heavyweight and eventually he will be the champion.

"The bottom line is I think the belt is secondary, because my No. 1 priority is laying waste to this entire division," he said at the postfight news conference. "Tonight, it wasn't about dancing or laughing. It was about making a statement, and I made it tonight."

Nobody was questioning that.

— Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.