Mickey Gall had some strong words for both Diego Sanchez and Mike Perry following his UFC Newark victory on Saturday.
Newark, NJ — It was a big night for the Jersey Boys at UFC Newark (UFC on ESPN 5) over the weekend. The UFC’s latest stop at the Prudential Center featured both Mickey Gall and mentor Jim Miller, and both pulled off impressive wins. In Gall’s case, it was a unanimous decision win over Salim Touahri, a victory that improved the welterweight’s record to 6-2. All but one of those fights, mind you, have come under the UFC banner.
“I’m proud. Jersey crowd, being from Jersey. I take a lot of pride being from here, I think everyone from Jersey does,” Gall told Cageside Press and other media outlets following the fight. “I take even more pride in that Jersey toughness, that’s our moniker. So I hope I was able to put that on for everyone, represent well.”
“Every time I cracked him, hearing them go wild, made me just want to do it again and again and again,” he added in regards to the crowd response. Gall had two hundred supporters in the arena personally, he said, and definitely heard them.
The win was an extremely important one, he explained, “especially after my last one, being sick, not being able to perform, it was embarrassing. It wasn’t the real me. I couldn’t represent myself in what I do, who I am. Being able to come back in here, in front of my home crowd, and do what I do, it meant the world to me.”
That last fight was his UFC 235 scrap with Diego Sanchez. It’s a subject he brought up heading into UFC Newark, and an outcome that clearly does not sit well with Gall.
“A minute into the [Sanchez] fight, I was struggling for balance. I could barely move. I had no energy, I had kidney failure. I probably should have been laid up in the hospital, but I went into a UFC fight with a Hall of Famer,” he recalled. “So I’d like to get that one back, I’d like to do that again with the real Mickey Gall. That wasn’t the real Mickey G. This one was.”
Later, he addressed whether Sanchez would be likely to accept the rematch. “If he was smart, he’d probably take the win and run. Take his money and run. But if he’s got the balls, let’s do it,” Gall said. “But if he doesn’t want to, I get that too. It’d probably be a smarter move for him. I think I’d f*ck him up next time.”
After Gall suggested his loss to Sanchez was the result of illness, another welterweight chimed in. ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry suggested Gall was “green” on social media. “F*ck Mike Perry,” Gall retorted. The Perry fight is another that interests Gall. “If he gets through my boy Vicente [Luque].” That pair fight this weekend at UFC Uruguay.
In any case, Gall would “like to be able to represent myself and show the real me. But I’m over ‘I want to fight this guy or that guy.’ I just want to fight, I want to stay active. I had my first amateur fight as a 22 year old kid. I had my first pro fight as a 23 year old kid. Two months later I was in the UFC.”
Gall feels that if he stays active, the sky’s the limit. “On any given day, I can beat anyone.” He’s eyeing “either October in Boston, or November, MSG. I want to fight in the fall, and stay active. And I want to keep going. I want to keep after it. I’m 27 years old, go a lot to go. We’re just getting started with this story.”
Having jumped right into the big leagues just one fight into his career, Gall added, has “been cool as f*ck. It’s been awesome. It’s unique. A weaker man would probably have a tough time being under the spotlight, under the microscope. Everything you do, every fight you have in front of millions, being examined by the world. Growing pains in front of the world. But if anyone can handle it, it’s me. I’m proud of it. I’m ready to go out with my shield or on it, every time.”
Watch the full UFC Newark post-fight press scrum with Mickey Gall above!
