clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Sparring partner: Sage Northcutt's dad 'is probably the worst coach I've seen'

Muay Thai fighter Ilya Grad detailed his training session with UFC 200's Sage Northcutt, and evidently it was not a pleasant experience.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

UFC lightweight prospect Sage Northcutt is looking to rebound from his first professional loss, as he draws nearer to his return at UFC 200. Northcutt saw his undefeated record come to an end back in January, when he was submitted by Bryan Barberena in a welterweight matchup at UFC on FOX 18.

Northcutt is getting in in his final training sessions before fight night, but his last one apparently was "a disaster" according to his sparring partner. In an Instagram post published on Tuesday, Israeli Muay Thai champion Ilya Grad pointed the finger at the 20-year-old's father as the root cause of yesterday's problems.

@supersagenorthcutt came in for sparring today preparing for UFC 200. I want to say something nice about the kid but oh my what a disaster it was. His dad is probably the worst coach I've seen in my life. He walks around talking shit from the start like we owe him something, then he interrupting his real coach during the rounds and gives poor Sage negative pet talk in between! Then at the 3rd round when I was just warming up and started pushing the pace they accused me of trying to hurt him and retired him from sparring! - When I train someone for a fight I want to put them in difficult situations, as you would in a real fight but these clowns just want him to do well and when he doesn't they accused me of some shit and made a scene! Never have I seen such bad coaching in my life! You have great potential kid, If you smart tell your dad to stay away from your fight camp so you could actually get some training done! Good luck for 200 ✌️

A photo posted by Ilya Grad (@ilyagrad) on

Harsh words for Super Sage's dad.

The Texas native will face TUF Latin America competitor Enrique Marin on the UFC 200 preliminary card. He's listed as more than a 3-to-1 favorite on most betting sites.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Bloody Elbow Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your MMA and UFC news from Bloody Elbow