One prospect will progress, the other will return to the drawing board.
Mickey Gall was entitled to calling a shot or two after he soaked up every drop of pressure that came with welcoming a superstar to the Octagon.
Gall was such a heavy favourite against former WWE superstar CM Punk last month that he could well have succumbed to the universal expectation of an early victory and come unstuck.
OPINION: UFC's offbeat CM Punk experiment looks to have unearthed a real gem | @DarrMurphy https://t.co/EZqa1vA2qN
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 11, 2016
He did not, he got Phil Brooks out of there in 127 seconds and he wasted no time whatsoever in calling out a fellow promising youngster in Sage Northcutt.
“I’ve got someone I want next,” Gall said after defeating Brooks. “The fight everyone wants to see. I want ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt.
“I think that boy’s corny and I want to punch the spikes out of his hair.”
Well now he will get the chance to do so as the UFC announced on Thursday evening that a welterweight bout between Gall and Northcutt had been scheduled for this December’s show in Sacramento.
BREAKING: @sagenorthcutt vs @mickeygall confirmed for #UFCSacramento! https://t.co/IbK5K3nmeM
Pre-register 🎟 ➡️ https://t.co/jBsAikgAWF pic.twitter.com/QNtRyQ4oSm— UFC (@ufc) October 6, 2016
In a clash of Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight discoveries Gall (3-0) meets Northcutt (8-1) on December 17 in California.
After bursting on to the UFC scene as a 19-year-old athletic freak, Northcutt came up short against Bryan Barberena this January but got back to winning ways at UFC 200 in a tightly contested bout with Enrique Marin.
After being made aware of Gall’s interest in fighting him, ‘Super’ Sage had this to say on the MMA Hour: “I’m thinking that maybe he should get some hair gel and style it or something.”
If the trash talk continues in this vicious way, we can see someone being handed a suspension before fight night rolls around.
