Sage Northcutt Stops Training at Tristar on Advice of Father

It didn't last long, but it appears Sage Northcutt is no longer training with Firas Zahabi at his Tristar Gym in Montreal, Canada.

Northcutt, the youngest ever fighter to win in the Octagon at 19-years-old, only joined Zahabi in the Canadian cold in October following on from his first promotional win.

"Super" Sage's UFC bow was one of the most hyped UFC debuts in recent memory and he duly lived up the extensive hyperbole surrounding his potential by decimating veteran Francisco Trevino in a matter of minutes, earning a TKO win.

The win certainly turned heads and surely attracted plenty of suitors, with gyms wanting to take Northcutt on to mold him into a future champion. After checking out Tristar's facilities and citing Georges St-Pierre as his hero, Northcutt chose to train with Firas Zahabi ahead of his upcoming fight against Cody Pfister at UFC Fight Night 80.

However, Northcutt has been coached all his life by his father, Mark, and a lot was made of his reaction to young Sage moving away to ply his trade up north. Even Zahabi appeared to harbor some reservations about how this close-knit father-son relationship may have an effect on Northcutt's time in Montreal, telling Ariel Helwani: "I think me and his dad, we're just going to have to have some discussions."

"At the end of the day, his dad has been training him his whole life. His dad should have the last say. But of course I want to be part of that conversation, I want to put in my two cents." A nice bit of Firas foreshadowing, there.

According to MMA journalist Jeremy Botter, Northcutt's life-long advisor and mentor determined the Tristar training camp was too much for him at this stage of his young, fledgling fight career. Some Sage advice, if you will. (Sorry!)

In essence, it would appear that Mark was concerned about the high-intensity sparring at the gym and hauled Sage away from Tristar to return home to train for his upcoming fight against Pfister just a couple of weeks before the slated December 10th date.

They say your parents know best and that does hold some clout considering Northcutt's perfect 6-0 record under poppa Northcutt's tutelage so far—a record made even more impressive with the manner of which Sage achieved it with six quick stoppages. However, could there be a point where Northcutt's progression plateaus with the absence of top training partners and experienced MMA coach on hand to prevent his development from stagnating?

There's nothing to suggest the above will happen for certain—nor is this necessarily the end of Northcutt's association with Tristar for training camps in the future. But, as the old adage goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Northcutt will have the opportunity to prove his father right as he makes his sophomore UFC appearance against Pfister in a week's time.