Mickey Gall is not afraid to call out an opponent, and there is a good reason why, because he continues to win.
After dispatching of CM Punk at UFC 203 inside Quicken Loans Arena back in September, Gall called out 20-year old phenom “Super” Sage Northcutt. And just as he did with Punk, Gall defeated Northcutt via submission in a welterweight bout, the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: VanZant vs. Waterson at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, Saturday night.
Despite being cut along the right eyebrow from a punch, Gall overcame a knockdown, floored Northcutt a wild overhand right, locked in the rear-naked choke and forced the tap out at the 3:20 mark of the second round.
Both fighters landed better than 70 percent of their strikes over the first five minutes of the fight. Northcutt connected on 15 of his 20 attempts, while Gall landed 17 of his 24 strikes. However, Gall scored two takedowns and attempted two submissions in the first round of the bout.
After Northcutt got loose from one of the submissions, Gall attempted to bait him to return to the canvas. Northcutt responded with a right-handed hammer fist to Gall’s head, which forced the down fighter to spin around and protect his chin.
Showing some frustration with Gall for not standing back up right after the hold was broken, Northcutt began screaming at his opponent and delivered three kicks to legs before the referee stepped in and forced the stand up.
Gall outpointed Northcutt, 12-7, in the second round before he was able to cinch in the submission.
With the win, Gall improved to 4-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and 3-0 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. All four of his professional victories have come courtesy of the same submission hold, a rear-naked choke.
Northcutt fell to 8-2 with the loss to Gall, and has now dropped two of his last three bouts via submission.
