Mickey Gall reveals what Sage Northcutt said to him during their fight
Mickey Gall had no problem playing the bad guy in his fight with "Super" Sage Northcutt when they met on Saturday night in Sacramento.
Gall was the one who called out Northcutt following his first-round submission over former WWE superstar CM Punk while consistently commenting on how "corny" the 20-year-old prospect sounded with his "kill-them-with-kindness" routine whenever he spoke.
Gall finally got the chance to back up his brash words when he stepped into the Octagon with Northcutt but following an exchange on the ground in the first round he heard something he never expected.
Northcutt was actually talking trash to him.
To be fair, Northcutt wasn't exactly turning into Conor McGregor with his verbal attacks, but Gall revealed afterwards what they said to each other during those exchanges
"First when he stood up, he was like 'get up, get up' and I was like 'I thought your jiu-jitsu was better than mine?' cause that's what he had said. Then when I got up I was like 'ooh are you tired?' and he's like 'I never get tired!'" Gall told FOX Sports during the post-fight show.
"Then when he hit me and cut me he's like 'ooh here's about to be another one!' I was like I like Sage with an edge."
Gall admitted that he wanted to get under Northcutt's skin with some of the things he had been saying and it clearly worked after he became rather vocal during the fight.
"I planned to be the bad guy a little bit. How are you going to be the nice guy with Sage Northcutt? So I was talking a little bit of crap and the whole time I was hoping he'd engage me, step out of his character and engage me and he did it!" Northcutt said.
"It finally came out. It came to fruition in the fight. You saw what happened."
Ultimately, Gall got the win with a second-round rear-naked choke submission after he knocked Northcutt down with a hellacious overhand right.
The victory moved Gall's record to 3-0 in the UFC and as soon as his fight was over, he quickly turned his attention to the next opponent he hoped to face in the Octagon.
This time around it was former welterweight title contender Dan Hardy, who has been out of action since 2012 dealing with a heart condition that nearly ended his career. Hardy has stated recently that he wanted to make a comeback in the near future and it appears he got Gall's attention.
"The first UFC I ever went to was him versus GSP (Georges St-Pierre). I'm a huge fan of his, always have been," Gall said about Hardy. "I heard he was planning on coming back, looking for something in the middle, maybe 170, 155 (pounds). It would just be an honor to fight him. I've got to punch up.
"I'm going keep calling out big names. Big names make nice trophies and I want some trophies."
As soon as Gall got on the microphone after the fight, the Sacramento crowd let him hear it with a chorus of boos, but it didn't rattle the 24-year old New Jersey native one bit. Gall says as long as the crowd is engaged — good or bad — that's all that matters.
"Be polarizing, I think that's a good way to be in this sport," Gall said. "I don't care. It's cool."
