Urijah Faber is seeing a lot of potential on the possible fight between Sage Northcutt and Logan Paul.
Last week, UFC star prospect Sage Northcutt announced that he was a free agent, after eight fights since he was signed by the company in 2015. His next plans involve diverse opportunities, including a possible fight against YouTube personality Logan Paul.
Paul was recently involved in a publicized boxing match against fellow internet personality KSI, which drew in more than 770,000 pay-per-view buys. The same potential to sell big in a fight between him and Northcutt is being foreseen, one of them being UFC Hall-of-Famer Urijah Faber.
“He’s got to look at every opportunity and right now he’s a free agent,” Faber said of Northcutt during a recent media event promoting the Quintet 3 grappling event in October (transcript via MMA Fighting). “And if that’s something that can be set up, it could be a really smart financial move. And actually there’s some really intriguing stuff if you look at it.”
“That boxing match (between Logan Paul and KSI), they promoted their own show, they had 22,000 people in the arena, they had a big PPV, monetized the thing.”
While there may be lucrative opportunities for Northcutt elsewhere, Faber is hoping that the 22-year-old fighter would be able to build his brand further with the UFC.
“I’ve talked to the UFC and I said look, this is the place for Sage, he can be world champion in the UFC,” Faber said. “For them, that would be massive. For Sage, that would be massive. Now the question is, it is going to be much more lucrative for him to go somewhere else as a prizefighter, can you get paid double or triple somewhere else? That’s the question.”
“I think what happens in this scenario is, you go out on the free market and you see what else is out there, and then you see what the UFC is offering. UFC has spent a lot of time, energy, and effort building Sage, he’s one of the poster boys for everything they represent, their stores, their sponsors, so it makes sense that they would make him a good offer.
“If you have to explain that to other fighters or not? Too bad,” he added. “You’re not Sage Northcutt. If you don’t like it, I went through the same thing. The world is not equal, unfortunately. If you want something, you gotta fight for it. Sage has done his homework.”
Northcutt last saw action in July in Boise, Idaho, where he won via second-round knockout against Zak Ottow.