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.
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.
