In December, when the UFC went to Sacramento for UFC on FOX 22, there were some unique sights to behold. There was Urijah Faber making his last walk to the Octagon in his native city. There was Michelle Waterson emerging as a star by tapping out Paige VanZant. And there was Sage Northcutt…talking trash?

Northcutt (8-2) lost his main card bout against Mickey Gall that night via second-round rear-naked choke. Yet earlier in the fight, there was the wholesome Northcutt mouthing at Gall after knocking him down with a shot. That image set social media abuzz with speculation as to what he was saying.

So what was it? (Hint: It wasn’t the incendiary tirade some had hoped).

“So when I hit him and knocked him down, I was just telling him — I wasn’t really talking trash, I wouldn’t call it trash talking,” he said during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour. “I was just talking to him. I was like, ‘come on, get up, get up.’ I was telling him to get up because I wanted to fight standing up. Another one was I hit him, I know I hurt him, so I was just like, ‘that hurt, didn’t it?’ So I was just kind of talking to him.”

Northcutt’s G-rated conversation with Gall still might’ve been a little overzealous for the 20-year old Texas fighter, who pointed to being amped up before his fight as a contributing factor to his loss.

“There was times when I knocked him down and I should have gotten on top of him,” he said. “I have great jiu-jitsu from the top, and obviously working on my jiu-jitsu from the bottom. So, I’m trying to work on that every single day that goes by, I’m always trying to improve that. But, I could have changed a few things in the fight and it could have turned out differently.”

Northcutt was making his second appearance as a welterweight in the fight, having come off of a victory over Enrique Martin at UFC 200 in July as a lightweight (a division he is undefeated in in the UFC).

Still, the sight of Northcutt — who calls men “sir,” and women “ma’am” — barking in the cage at all was memorable. He said it was just him making the most of his time in the Octagon.

“You know, I haven’t done it before in the UFC,” he said. “I think it was just me having fun out there. I was enjoying myself, and I was telling him to get up, and like the referee stood him back up and I was just having fun.”

Given that he ended up losing the bout, he was asked if he had any regrets about it just the same.

“No sir, I wasn’t trash talking,” he said. “I wouldn’t be out there, I would never be out there cussing at people or saying anything like that, so it wasn’t something to regret. Obviously I regret my performance. The two fights I have lost in the UFC, I should have won those fights, if I’d have been the Sage I know I can be. So I just need to work on that, be calm out there, don’t get too excited and amped up to rush in, and I should be getting better.”