UFC Sacramento Results: Mickey Gall Submits Northcutt in Second Round
Mickey Gall continued to ‘walk-the-walk’ at welterweight during UFC Sacramento, submitting “Super” Sage Northcutt in the second round with yet another rear-naked choke, earning his third win of the year.
On a card featuring the final fight of bantamweight legend Urijah Faber’s career in Sacramento, and cross-platform star Paige VanZant, it’s Sage Northcutt and Mickey Gall’s welterweight bout that had many fan’s attention. The young 170-pounders are looking to make their way through one of the deepest divisions in the UFC, and network-television victories don’t hurt.
UFC Sacramento hosted the third fight of the year for Northcutt. It hasn’t been a perfect 2016 for “Super Sage”, who was submitted in January by Bryan Barberena. The loss, the first of the 20-year-old Northcutt’s professional MMA career, was the first time he’d been truly challenged as a fighter. Although the result didn’t go his way, Northcutt responded well, defeating Enrique Marin at UFC 200.
But, the fight with Marin was at 155-pounds. When Northcutt steps into the Octagon and returns to welterweight in Sacramento, he’s faced with the decidedly bigger Mickey Gall.
Gall is having as great a year as he could hope for, going 2-0 to begin his UFC career. He grabbed plenty of headlines, and praise from MMA fans, after soundly defeating former WWE Superstar CM Punk with a first-round rear-naked-choke at UFC 203. He’s used those headlines to his advantage, talking his way into high-visibility fights.
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Following Faber’s final fight was tough, but Gall and Northcutt did their part to keep up the energy. A surprising amount of trash-talking pre-fight spilled into the Octagon, with the fighters consistently chirping at each other throughout the bout. That was until Gall made sure his opponent couldn’t speak anymore.
Gall ended the fight at 1:40 of the second round, submitting Northcutt with his signature rear-naked-choke. Gall has finished each of his four professional MMA contests with the submission.
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The fight began as well as Gall could’ve hoped, gaining top position on Northcutt within the first 90 seconds of the bout. Gall controlled the ground game, looking for a guillotine that he would eventually sink-in. But, after working for that submission for nearly two minutes, Northcutt was able to escape and get the fight off the ground.
Only for a moment, as Gall would end the round with a takedown and once again on top of Northcutt. After losing the first round, Northcutt came out swinging and connecting, in the second round. A couple of lefts had Gall bleeding above his right eye, and the fight was starting to swing in Northcutt’s favor.
Then Gall landed a huge right that stunned Northcutt, leaving him wobbly and vulnerable. The Gracie jiu-jitsu product took advantage of the opening and quickly took Northcutt’s back. Within 30 seconds, the rear-naked choke was in, and Northcutt was tapping for the second time in 2016.
As long as Gall is walking the walk, he’ll have our attention. Although he may not have defeated a top-ranked fighter in 2016, his three wins got a lot of viewers, and that will likely continue next year.
After the fight, Gall said he planned on moving to lightweight to fight at 155-pounds and called out Dan Hardy upon his potential return. His recent move to Tristar Gym seems to have him on the right track, and regardless of who his next fight comes against, we’ll be watching.
For Northcutt, the road is a bit trickier. The young fighter lost the first two fights of his career in 2016, both of which in unimpressive fashion. His career is far from over, and his development will take years, not months. But, there’s no denying improvement must come from Northcutt in 2017.
