Cosmo Alexandre Expects Former Foe Sage Northcutt to ‘Shine’ in One Championship

The first foreigner to win two editions of the Kings Cup (2007 and
2009), Cosmo
Alexandre is one of the most respected muay thai fighters to
make a successful transition to MMA.

Despite having an MMA record of 8-1 following his knockout of
Sage
Northcutt at One Championship “Enter the Dragon” in 2019,
Alexandre decided to retire at 40 years old with a combat sports
record that features a combined 106 fights in MMA, muay thai and
kickboxing.

With the experience of having trained with Kamaru
Usman, Georges St.
Pierre, Vitor
Belfort, Alex
Pereira and Anderson
Silva, Alexandre told Sherdog that most important muay thai
techniques are still underused in MMA.

“Boxing has reached a very high level in MMA, no doubt about that,
but I still see a lot of muay thai techniques that are totally
underused, like elbows, knees and clinches,” Alexandre said.

According to Alexandre, even someone like Jon Jones, who
has long utilized elbows to his advantage in the UFC, has plenty of
room to evolve in that aspect.

“Once I went to give a seminar at Phil Nurse’s academy in New York,
and we were talking about how Jones throws the elbows, but he still
doesn’t know exactly when to throw them,” Alexandre said. “When I
see MMA events, it’s really surprising how many techniques can be
used from cage clinch that are not used.”

Alexandre, who spent many years living in Thailand and Holland,
points to “The Spider” as the most deadly striker with which he has
ever trained.

“No doubt Anderson is the most intelligent and tricky striker I´ve
ever trained with,” Alexandre said.

Currently living in Florida, where he only teaches private classes,
Alexandre wishes the best for Northcutt, his former foe. Northuctt
suffered devastating facial injuries in his loss to Alexandre and
will return for the first time since then at One on Prime Video 10
on May 5.

“One thing that got me really upset are the bullies who always
tag me whenever anyone talks about Sage. I´m a muay thai
fighter. I dont like trash talk and I hate those kind of
attitudes,” he said. “Anyone who steps in the ring can be knocked
out. He faced a muay thai world champion.

“I got really sad after hearing about the multiple facial fractures
he had in our fight and immediately sent a message to him on my
stories. Seeing people bullying him to this day while
tagging me really revolts me. Those guys have no idea what
martial arts is about. Almost four years have passed and I still
block people every week. Sage was 23 years old then. He is
a real talented guy and I’m sure he will shine in One. I wish
the best to him.”