SACRAMENTO, Calif. – UFC welterweight Sage Northcutt considers it a compliment Mickey Gall asked to fight him. Because really, what else would he do?

“It’s very nice, people calling you out,” Northcutt told MMAjunkie after an open workout at the Golden 1 Center, which hosts his Saturday co-headliner opposite Gall at UFC on FOX 22. “I think sometimes, just be careful what you wish for.”

That’s about as close as Northcutt (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will get to a verbal counter-volley against Gall (3-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who said his 20-year-old opponent is a “dork” and “kind of corny” and not ready for the fight ahead.

Gall might not respect Northcutt, think he’s an easy mark for a career boost, and guess he would end up trying to kick himself out of a locker somewhere in New Jersey. “Super” Sage cheerfully plans to prove him wrong.

“No sir, I don’t take it personally, and I don’t know how someone could say that when they don’t know you,” Northcutt said when asked to respond to Gall’s dismissal. “So he might be saying that trying to get attention, but anybody that knows me, knows who I am.”

His irrepressible happiness makes it hard to pin that down sometimes. But he doesn’t seem too concerned about those things.

Gall, fresh off a win over pro-wrestling champ turned fighter Phil “CM” Punk Brooks, figured he’d capitalize on Northcutt’s notoriety by smashing it, just like the apple the 20-year-old fighter halved in a viral hit.

Northcutt won’t have his parade rained on. At the open workout, he threw spinning back kicks. He did backflips for an ooh-ing audience. Afterward, he met fans who braved the rain to watch the workouts; he complimented a male fan on the picture they took, exclaiming, “Nice one!”

Gall thinks the matchup will prove which one of them is a real UFC fighter after they got a bump from the promotion’s PR machine. Northcutt fancies it a chance to show off his improved skills. When they meet Saturday, he plans on wiping the smile off his opponent’s face.

For more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.