Wrestling Lockup with Brandon, brought to you by Triple Threat CLE brings you a special edition of the CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall fight from UFC 203.
Normally I'm the wrestling guy that brings you your wrestling recaps and news on a weekly basis. But today I'm bringing you something special. Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Phil "CM Punk" Brooks finally made his UFC debut last night, after almost a two year wait after signing on. Injuries and a minor debate on who would be Punk's first opponent sidelined the "cult of personality" from any UFC action during that two year hiatus. After returning from injury, marrying his wrestling crush April Jeanette Mendez (AJ Lee), and getting back into fighting shape, UFC finally decided on Mickey Gall as Punk's first opponent, at UFC 203, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Punk's training and debut against Mickey Gall were put on hiatus, however, as a herniated disc in Punk's back forced him to drop out of training and UFC 200 altogether until getting his back issue taken care of. After surgery and getting back into training, Punk credited the surgery as giving him a new lease on life and feeling better than ever.
"I think once I had an opponent, once I had a date and once I was free of that damn herniated disc I was walking around with for who knows how long, I was a different person, It's one thing to train, it's another thing to train with a singular purpose and that's what I got in Mickey Gall. I know this is a difficult sport to master. I look forward to mastering it sometime and I realize that will probably never happen, but I will get as good as I possibly can."
Mickey Gall entered his third professional MMA fight, holding a record of 2-0. Both of Gall's wins were by submission, which makes Gall a huge threat in submission style wrestling. Gall is 24 year's old, 13 years younger than Punk, which forced many to already give the advantage to Gall. Gall stands in at 5' 11" and weighs 170 pounds, where Punk came in at 6' 1" and weighed 170 pounds, 40 pounds lighter than what he wrestled under in the WWE.
*** The Weigh In ***
Punk was asked what exactly did Gall say to him during the weigh in and Punk answered in his usual cockiness.
"I don't know, he was stuttering. He kept repeating, ‘Oh you don't want to shake my hand, you don't want to shake my hand' or something like that. I'm not here to shake anybody's hand. I'm here to punch people in the face."
Punk was also asked how happy he was with his weigh in and Punk stated he wasn't happy with the 170 pound weigh in.
"Cutting weight was not fun, but I had coach Duke Roufus and teammates like Anthony Pettis and Erik Koch for advice. I'm not gonna say it was easy, there's a level of difficulty that goes along with it and I'm a fat kid at heart and I love food and that's obviously the hardest part."
- Round One: Unfortunately for Punk, his debut was not one to remember. Gall takes down Punk and immediately got in some ground and pound. Gall went around to Punk's back and locked in a rear naked choke submission. Punk was able to escape for a brief moment, but Gall locks in the rear naked choke submission again. Gall locks it tight and Punk taps out at 2:14. Punk's face wasn't too pretty when it was all said and done.
So there you have it, CM Punk's long awaited debut ending with a loss by submission. What lies ahead next for Punk in UFC? Only Dana White knows.
"You go BIG or you go home" - @CMPunk #UFC203 https://t.co/H4LEnkXwmI
— UFC (@ufc) September 11, 2016
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