ONE Championship star Sage Northcutt has given his thoughts on UFC president Dana White’s suggestion that he should consider retiring from mixed martial arts.

Northcutt officially signed with ONE nearly a year ago now after parting ways with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. His first fight with the promotion took place at May at ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon, where he was knocked out by Cosmo Alexandre in just 29 seconds. The knockout led to the youngster sustaining eight fractures in his face, leading to a nine-hour surgery after the fight.

During an interview with MMA Fighting, Northcutt questioned some previous comments from his former boss White in which he said “Super Sage” should hang up the gloves.

“For him to say something like that, after that injury, I don’t understand the exact logic of why he would say something like that,” Northcutt said. “Before, he was wishing me to do great in everything I happened to do in the future, and (to) say something like that is totally different.

“I’m sure he’s had a few fighters from the UFC go to ONE Championship and I’m sure he—I’m not sure what exactly he wants to see from those fighters, but I’m sure he would like them to be fighting for his league. Me fighting for ONE Championship is great, and I think I’m gonna accomplish great things.”

At the age of just 23 it seems like Northcutt has a long future in the sport if that’s the path he decides to take, but it certainly makes sense for fans to be concerned about his long-term health following such a serious injury.

It appears as if he’ll continue to rest and recuperate before getting back into the swing of MMA training, but one thing is for sure: retirement isn’t on his mind right now.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/11/2019.