UFC fighter Sage Northcutt recently underwent successful surgery to have his tonsils removed.
According to Mark Northcutt, the father of Sage, the fighter started having issues before his fight with Bryan Barberena.
“His tonsils were damaged from the first (strep throat illness) and had little pits or holes in them that kept harboring bacteria,” Northcutt told MMA Fighting.
“Super Sage” will not be returning to action until his body heals from the surgery, but when he does return, it will be in the lightweight division.
The one thing about the surgery that has disappointed Sage is that he won’t be able to compete when the UFC returns to his home state of Texas at UFC 211.
“He was really bummed out and wanted to try and fight anyways,” Northcutt said, “but we had to tell him it wasn’t a good idea.”
Sage hasn’t competed since UFC On Fox 22 in December 2016, where he suffered a second round submission loss to Mickey Gall.
Northcutt has earned a total of three wins during his tenure in the UFC, with those three victories coming over the trio of Francisco Trevino, Cody Pfister and Enrique Marin.