CM Punk offered Mickey Gall some motivational advice following their welterweight bout at UFC 203 last night.
Although CM Punk entered UFC 203 with no professional MMA experience to his name, the former WWE world champion has a wealth of experience in life and making it to the top of his respective career.
Punk, or Phil Brooks, was submitted in the first round by young welterweight prospect Mickey Gall, and didn’t hesitate to give the 24-year-old some advice on how to market himself in the future.
“Throughout his interviews, he’d say things like, in speaking about himself, that he didn’t belong in the UFC and he didn’t belong on the main card,” Punk said, per Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting. “I told him that everyone else is going to say that about you through your entire career. Why are you going to say that about yourself? Don’t ever put yourself down. Even if you think you don’t deserve to be on the main card, you’re on the main card. Just shut the f*ck up and fake it till you make it. Don’t sell yourself short.'”
Prior to UFC 203, Gall said he didn’t deserve to be on the main card when respected veterans like Urijah Faber were also competing.
“He said, ‘Always feel you belong,'” Gall explained when asked what Punk told him. “I was pretty vocal in feeling that I didn’t belong on the UFC poster. Urijah Faber and Jimmie Rivera fought before me. Those are two veterans. I’m an MMA purist. I respect the veterans of the game and they’re more deserving of the spot.”
However, following his post-fight interaction with Punk, Gall said he definitely took the advice on board and thanked him for offering a different perspective.
“Between me and Punk, before tonight, we had a combined two fights. I was 2-0 and he was 0-0. It was kind of a weird thing. But he was saying, ‘always believe you belong.’ And it was a motivational, positive message. It was nice of him.”
Gall, who has been competing in mixed martial arts since he was a teenager, moved to 3-0 in his professional career and called out Sage Northcutt in the post-fight interview.
Punk, who signed with the UFC in 2014 after ending his career in professional wrestling, said he’d like to fight again but Dana White is not sure the 37-year-old is cut out for the UFC.