Ahmed Mujtaba has been giving a lot of thought to Sage Northcutt. The two men meet at ONE Fight Night 10 but there are a lot of questions hanging over the American.
Northcutt was last seen getting brutally knocked out in 2019 and hasn’t fought since. Since then Mujtaba has finished two opponents in the first round and he thinks fear is going to be a factor for the American,
“He’s going to be afraid. I’m not an easy guy to fight against.”
What a SHOCK! 😱 Ahmed Mujtaba 🇵🇰 submits BJJ black belt Abraao Amorim via triangle choke!#ONE163
🇺🇸🇨🇦🇹🇭🇬🇧🇸🇦🇧🇷🇲🇲 Live on ONE YouTube
🌍 Live on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd pic.twitter.com/5vjhuMkKZO— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 19, 2022
No animosity
Mujtaba has no animosity towards Northcutt. But he believes he will be ready for whatever the UFC veteran throws at him on May 5th,
“Sage is a nice guy. He might be hungry for his comeback, he might be well prepared but you know I’m in this game, and I don’t fall too simply, and I’m ready for this. Whatever his attacks, whatever his plans, I’m ready.”
There is a big Pakistani population in the US and Mujtaba hopes that fans from his country will rally behind him. His opponent might be fighting on home soil but the 30 year old believes he will have plenty of supporters at the 1stBank Arena,
“Fighting in the United States, it’s a big thing for me. Once again, I’m representing my country in the States, the land of opportunity. There’s a lot of people from Pakistan in the U.S. They are waiting for me to represent my country, and there is a lot of Pakistanis going to be at the event, who are going to be cheering for me.”
Ahmed Mujtaba 🇵🇰 gets Pakistan the win over India, STOPPING Rahul Raju in Round 1! @ahmedwolverine1 #ONEUnbreakable3 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/wpVX2avZQw
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 5, 2021
Top gym
Mujtaba, who is coming off a submission win over a BJJ black belt, is already in the US preparing for the fight at AKA in California. He believes being based as one of the world’s ‘top gyms’ will give him an edge over Northcutt,
“The training is going good, you know. Especially, AKA is one of the top gyms in the world that has made really good champions. So I’m under good management. I’m under good coaches.”
Mujtaba recently announced that he ‘feared no man except Allah’. His faith is clearly important to him ahead of what he describes as a ‘must win’ fight,
“Everything is going smooth, and all hope is from Allah. I have to win at any cost.”
