While many mixed martial arts (MMA) fans may be fixated on the debut of former WWE star CM Punk’s UFC debut come fight night in Cleveland at UFC 203, they could very well be left talking about Mickey Gall when it’s all said an done.
Gall will be the man who gets the honors in welcoming Punk to the UFC’s Octagon and he’s using the former professional wrestling star’s name-power to thrust him further in his MMA career:
“This fight is high-risk, high reward,” Gall told Jim Norton on UFC Unfiltered (courtesy of FightSports.TV). “If I win, it’ll really help my MMA career, give me a lot of exposure.
I get to keep moving on with my dream of being in the UFC. If I lose, I look like a freaking asshole. Everyone treats him like a joke, so I’m not making that mistake. I’m taking him very seriously.”
Punk has been deep in preparation for two-years since making the jump to MMA, and Gall says that if he hasn’t dramatically improved since then, he’s in for a rough night:
“I’m sure he’s improved tremendously since then — he better have, or he’s dead — but I still think when we get into it, and we’re in the fight and I’m hitting him, like we get in the sh*t, I still think those bad, clunky habits will come out and I’m gonna expose that.”
Gall would go on to predict that he will finish the former WWE champ in the first round:
“I think I’ll take him out in the first round,” he said. “I think five minutes is too long for him to be able to hang with me. But if it goes into the second, that’s fine with me.
I’m just gonna get stronger as that goes on. My conditioning, everything. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in, it’ll just give me more ring time, more cage time, more experience.
If I’m not completely dominating, then it’s bad and I’m underperforming. But I’m not worried about that. I’m not worried about underperforming.”
The conference call for the upcoming UFC 203 pay-per-view (PPV) is approaching this Thursday (September 1, 2016), and Gall said he will use the opportunity to fire some jobs at his opponent Punk:
“I hear we have a conference call this Thursday,” Gall said with a certain eagerness. “I’m looking forward to it, I’m gonna light him up.”
“He has been respectful. I guess he has to do that positive, ‘believe in himself’ stuff,” he said. “But I’ve got the truth on my side. Anything I say, I truly believe.
When I say I’m gonna dominate him for every minute of the fight, I know that’s the truth.”
Gall and Punk will meet on the main card of UFC 203 live on PPV, from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on September 10, 2016.
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