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.”