Kenny Florian is expecting a lot of great things from Sage VanZant… eh, I mean Northcutt.
The former UFC lightweight and featherweight contender admitted he was impressed with the 19-year-old karate phenom’s Octagon debut, a 57-second knockout victory over Francisco Trevino at UFC 192. In fact, he was so impressed with the youngster that he compared him to arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever on the latest episode of his podcast with Jon Anik.
“Talk about potential. Talk about dollar signs. This kid could be Georges St-Pierre times ten. When you look at his look and the way that he fights. The explosiveness.”
GSP times ten? That’s a bit of a ludicrous comparison to make about a teenager who’s just made his promotional debut, but Florian did attempt to justify his comments.
“This kid, I think he got to the state championships after only a year of wrestling in high school. He was wrestling at Texas A&M after only a couple years of wrestling. He started wrestling very late. This kid is an athlete through and through. Just look at that flip.”
In case you missed where this guy came from…
Checkout his story: http://t.co/YHca0lx9XA@SageNorthcutt #UFC192 pic.twitter.com/SKCCPynVkf— UFC (@ufc) October 3, 2015
“It’s unbelievable what kind of maturity and approach that he has to this game. Everything this guy does he does it 100 percent. Whether it’s wrestling or being a karate world champion. His sister is a karate champion. It’s in their blood. This is what they do and now we’re getting these truly elite, world-class athletes in the sport. It really is exciting.”
In terms of athleticism, he may be up there with the great GSP, but in terms of what he’s accomplished inside the cage, we think these comments came way too soon from Florian.
