On Friday, on the main card of the stacked ONE: Enter the Dragon card in Singapore, former UFC talent Sage Northcutt made his ONE Championship debut opposite dangerous kickboxing export Cosmo Alexandre. Unfortunately for Northcutt and his legions of fans, this ONE debut went disastrously, as we was knocked out in less than 30 seconds.

After this tough knockout loss, Northcutt was carted to a Singapore, where he underwent a nine-hour surgery to repair several facial injuries.

“Fresh out of surgery…I had 8 fractures and a nine hour intense operation,” Sage Northcutt explained in a recent Instagram post. “Feeling blessed for the amazing care and all the support from [ONE Championship] my family/friends and fans!”

This loss was understandably a tough one Northcutt’s friends, family and training partners. That includes Team Alpha Male boss Urijah Faber, who joined Northcutt in Singapore as a cornerman.

Speaking on his official Instagram account on Sunday, the former WEC featherweight champion and long-time UFC bantamweight contender praised Sage Northcutt for his remarkable spirit, and encouraged fans to rally behind the young karate specialist after this difficult setback.

“Sage’s positivity is always inspiring,” Faber said of his pupil. “Eight fractures and a nine hour surgery later (was supposed to be 4 hours) he is on the way to recovery. A reminder of how real our sport is, and how brave everyone is that steps into the Arena. Send Sage some love, he’s the type of guy that is always spreading it!”

As Faber suggests, Sage Northcutt is one of the most overwhelmingly positive people in the sport — quite possibly on the planet.

Northcutt left the UFC on a three-fight win-streak, composed of two decision wins over Michel Quiñones and Thibault Gouti, and a TKO defeat of Zak Ottow.

Here’s hoping the young ONE Championship star makes a full and speedy recovery!

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/19/2019.