Marc Diakiese wants a lightweight showdown with Sage Northcutt at international fight week.
“The Bonecrusher” has been petitioning for a fight with “Super Sage” following the 21-year-old’s controversial victory over Thibault Gouti at UFC Fight Night 126 in Austin last weekend.
Although Diakiese agreed with a lot of people who thought Gouti did enough to win the fight, he thinks that a matchup between him and Northcutt makes a lot of sense.
“I think it would be a good fight,” said Diakiese.
“He’s on a two-fight win streak, and I’m on a two-fight losing streak. To be honest, I watched his fight in Austin, and I thought he lost.
“I feel the fight makes sense. He’s 10-2 and I’m 12-2. If he beats me, it will really put him out there. I bring a lot of attention to fights and so does he. He likes to stand up and so do I, so I think the UFC will like the idea and I know the fans will really like it too.”
Diakiese thinks that Northcutt is currently making inquiries to Team Alpha Male founder, Urijah Faber, about a potential matchup with him. He might not be able to speak for how Northcutt feels about them being pitted against each other, but he thinks he can gain a lot from a win over the popular karateka.
“I think right now he’s probably asking Mr. Faber if he should take the fight [laughs],” he said.
“To be honest, I don’t know he feels about it, but I want to take what’s mine. I know I can gain a lot from fighting him, and I think he can gain a lot from fighting me too.
“He’s probably asking Mr. Faber if it’s the guy with the red mohawk that’s calling him out. I think he gets confused an awful lot, so he probably thinks that it’s really cool that I’m calling him out.”
Some question if Northcutt’s skillset is strong enough to justify a spot on the UFC’s roster, but Diakiese believes his ability to win in the Octagon proves he belongs in the big leagues.
“If you’re winning fights in the UFC, it means you’re good enough. I think he’s got great potential, and if he can stay focused, I think he will do very well. I think that I’m in a similar situation to him, so that’s another reason why the fight makes sense,” he said.
Considering the matchup, Diakiese said he was surprised to hear that Northcutt comes from a striking background because he doesn’t appear to be comfortable with taking shots.
“From watching him, it looks like he doesn’t like to get hit. I’m actually surprised to hear that he’s from a karate background, because he looks scared to get hit to me sometimes. I’m a guy who has shown some holes in my game and so has he. He’ll try and capitalize on my weaknesses and I’ll try to capitalize on his.”
Finally, the British prospect outlined why he thinks it would make perfect sense for the fight to be featured on the UFC 226 card, which is scheduled to be headlined by the heavyweight championship bout between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.
“It’s going to be a big card anyway, that main event is huge. With big events like that they always have fights that get the fans talking and I definitely think me and Sage would be that kind of fight. I think it would go over really well.”
