With only three days left until Saturday’s (September 10, 2016) UFC 203 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the MMA world anxiously awaits CM Punk’s long overdue and controversial Octagon debut. Scheduled to face green 2-0 prospect Mickey Gall on the main card of the UFC’s first-ever pay-per-view (PPV) from Cleveland, Punk (real
With only three days left until Saturday’s (September 10, 2016) UFC 203 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the MMA world anxiously awaits CM Punk’s long overdue and controversial Octagon debut.
Scheduled to face green 2-0 prospect Mickey Gall on the main card of the UFC’s first-ever pay-per-view (PPV) from Cleveland, Punk (real name Phillip Brooks) has been telling everyone who will listen that there’s no reason he shouldn’t have the opportunity that many fans, media members, and fighters feel he may not really deserve, and the only thing he can do to quiet those critics is win at UFC 203.
But those who have witnessed his training videos believe he’s far from ready to compete at MMA’s highest level, and there are whispers that his session at today’s UFC 203 open workouts only served to further illustrate that stance. Watch the session courtesy of MMA Fighting below and decide for yourself:
Mickey Gall knows that he is only on the UFC 203 pay-per-view main card because of his opponent, CM Punk.
Nevertheless, Gall is going to soak it all in ahead of Saturday and his much-hyped welterweight contest from Cleveland.
The 24-year-old Gall, though, doesn’t believe he should be on the official fight poster that has been plastered up around the world and online.
“I don’t think I should be on the poster yet – I know I shouldn’t be,” he said in an interview with MMAjunkie. “But I’m happy that I am. I’m fighting after Jimmie Rivera and Urijah Faber. It’s crazy.”
Gall earned a win in front of UFC president Dana White on “Lookin’ for a Fight.” That allowed him a chance to call-out Punk and earned him a fight in the Octagon. He is now 2-0 heading into the bout with the former WWE superstar, who will be making his MMA debut.
“Within the rules set, I’m going to be going in there to kill him,” Gall said.
And how about after?
“I’ll probably have a name in my mouth,” Gall said. “It got me to the dance. I’ll keep dancing with that.”
Mickey Gall knows that he is only on the UFC 203 pay-per-view main card because of his opponent, CM Punk.
Nevertheless, Gall is going to soak it all in ahead of Saturday and his much-hyped welterweight contest from Cleveland.
The 24-year-old Gall, though, doesn’t believe he should be on the official fight poster that has been plastered up around the world and online.
“I don’t think I should be on the poster yet – I know I shouldn’t be,” he said in an interview with MMAjunkie. “But I’m happy that I am. I’m fighting after Jimmie Rivera and Urijah Faber. It’s crazy.”
Gall earned a win in front of UFC president Dana White on “Lookin’ for a Fight.” That allowed him a chance to call-out Punk and earned him a fight in the Octagon. He is now 2-0 heading into the bout with the former WWE superstar, who will be making his MMA debut.
“Within the rules set, I’m going to be going in there to kill him,” Gall said.
And how about after?
“I’ll probably have a name in my mouth,” Gall said. “It got me to the dance. I’ll keep dancing with that.”
The second episode of UFC 203 Embedded was released on the UFC’s YouTube channel late Tuesday night. The episode features welterweight CM Punk takes an ice bath in his high-end home facility. Heavyweight Travis Browne trains outdoors, while his opponent Fabricio Werdum works in his gym and visits an old haunt. Divisional champ Stipe Miocic
The second episode of UFC 203 Embedded was released on the UFC’s YouTube channel late Tuesday night. The episode features welterweight CM Punk takes an ice bath in his high-end home facility. Heavyweight Travis Browne trains outdoors, while his opponent Fabricio Werdum works in his gym and visits an old haunt. Divisional champ Stipe Miocic spends his Sunday judging hot rods, and title challenger Alistair Overeem goes for a high-altitude hike in New Mexico.
UFC 203 takes place on Saturday, September 10th, at The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The main event will see Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem in a heavyweight title bout while in the co-main event Travis Browne will fight Fabricio Werdum in a heavyweight clash. Rounding out the main card is CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall, Urijah Faber vs. Jimmie Rivera, and Jessica Andrade vs. Joanne Calderwood.
You can watch the episode here:
As always, stay tuned to Low Kick MMA for the latest coverage of UFC 203.
The fourth and final installment of “The Evolution of Punk” has been made available for online viewing.
The episode focuses in on CM Punk as he finds out who his opponent will be and se…
The fourth and final installment of “The Evolution of Punk” has been made available for online viewing.
The episode focuses in on CM Punk as he finds out who his opponent will be and sees Mickey Gall in action. The two meet this Saturday night at UFC 203.
More training footage is shown and Punk squares off with Gall inside the Octagon.
On Tuesday evening, UFC released the second episode of their fight week series, “UFC Embedded,” which follows the top fighters as they finish their preparation for this Saturday’s big pay-per-view.
Featured above is e…
https://youtu.be/IUEf5o7s_Dc
On Tuesday evening, UFC released the second episode of their fight week series, “UFC Embedded,” which follows the top fighters as they finish their preparation for this Saturday’s big pay-per-view.
Featured above is episode two of UFC 203 Embedded. The official description for the episode reads as follows:
“On Episode 2 of UFC 203 Embedded, welterweight CM Punk takes an ice bath in his high-end home facility. Heavyweight Travis Browne trains outdoors, while his opponent Fabricio Werdum works in his gym and visits an old haunt. Divisional champ Stipe Miocic spends his Sunday judging hot rods, and title challenger Alistair Overeem goes for a high-altitude hike in New Mexico. UFC 203 Embedded is an all-access, behind-the-scenes video blog leading up to the world heavyweight championship main event at UFC 203, taking place Saturday, September 10 on Pay-Per-View.”
Punk meets Mickey Gall in his Octagon debut in the third-from-the-top bout scheduled for this Saturday’s UFC 203 PPV at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Join us here at MMANews.com on 9/10 for live coverage of the UFC 203 PPV!
Questionable to say the least… Whether you love him or hate him CM Punk is a thing. After this saturday (9/10/16), the straight edge former WWE champion will either be in the win or loss column with his UFC debut at UFC 203. The Chicago native will dawn his signature Pepsi tattoo against fellow […]
Whether you love him or hate him CM Punk is a thing. After this saturday (9/10/16), the straight edge former WWE champion will either be in the win or loss column with his UFC debut at UFC 203. The Chicago native will dawn his signature Pepsi tattoo against fellow UFC newcomer Mickey Gall (2-0) as the co-co main event of the card held at Cleveland Ohio’s Quick and Loan Arena.
But wait a minute, let’s back track here. How exactly does a former sport entertainment star with no experience get sanctioned to fight in the most elite MMA stage on earth??? Butt loads of cash that’s how…I mean through a careful and logical judiciary process of course…(cough, cough).
So how exactly did CM punk get sanctioned? According to Ohio Administrative Code 3773-7-20(E) requires a fighter seeking licensure in Ohio to have at least five amateur bouts and a winning record in those contests. However, a fighter “may appeal to the executive director or Ohio athletic commission to have this waived.”
Punk clearly does not meet this standard, but according to Executive Director of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato his pre-determined matches with the WWE count as real world fight experience. “CM Punk has a wrestling background similar to Brock Lesner being permitted to fight in the past,” Profato said.
While both men did get there rise to stardom through professional wrestling, their backgrounds aren’t exactly the same. Brock Lesnar is a 2x all american NCAA division 1 wrestler who won the 285lb title in 2000. Secondly his first professional match technically against Judo Silver medalist Min Soo Kim under the K-1 organization which he won via first round TKO. Not his fight against Frank Mir at UFC 100 as most fans might think.
The second reasoning for sanctioning “Punk” was off of the strength of former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.
“There was also confidence in the matchmaker from the UFC and the past bouts he has submitted in previous UFC events in Ohio,” Profato argued
Now Joe Silva is a matchmaker, so I’m not sure why they would go to him on a fighter’s ability to defend himself. His job is to make the fights that will improve the ass to seat ratio, not on whether someone should be sanctioned. He’d book Conor McGregor vs. Scott Baio if the PPV numbers were right, but I digress.
The bottomline is that this comes down to money. Once again our beloved sport’s integrity is being undermined by greed. Ohio state commission is probably lining their pockets with a kick back from the UFC as well as the boatloads of cash the event will bring to the city, and the UFC is hoping to squeeze as much as they can out of the spectacle that is CM Punk. No skill, no reason, just the fact that you’ll pay to see it.
But maybe I’m wrong, maybe Ariel Helwani is right and the sport has no integrity, maybe it never did. It’s just a circus for whatever the people want to see. What do you guys think? Is the UFC just a whore to the industry or does it have a chance to be a legitimate sport?
