The UFC held a conference call this week to help promote the upcoming welterweight matchup at UFC 203 between former WWE superstar CM Punk (0-0) and rising prospect Mickey Gall (2-0). Current oddsmakers have Gall a pretty solid favorite at -300, while Punk is of course the underdog at +250. While it will be Punk’s real first sanctioned MMA fight he has been going hard in the gym and has had plenty of “smokers”, although by most accounts, most did not go his way.
Despite Gall’s experience advantage, Punk is a seriously motivated individual and not only believes he will win the fight, but is predicting a stoppage.
“I see my hand getting raised and I’m not really one for making predictions. I definitely see myself winning, and if I had to pick, I’d pick TKO. I want to show out. I want to show up. I want to beat Mickey. I don’t really give a (expletive) how I do it.” -CM Punk
More notable quotes from the call:
Mickey Gall – “I’m not particularly impressed, just different things, the way he moves. I’m sure he’s improved tremendously since that footage (on FS1) but I know when he gets to the fight, we get into (it), those bad habits tend to come out and I know I’ll be able to expose those.”
CM Punk – “It’s a correct depiction of where I was at when it was shot, three back surgeries, walking round with a herniated disk, 15 percent power in my left leg. It’d be like me watching one of Mickey’s fights and expecting to fight that guy. Mickey trains his ass off and he trains with a good team. He’s not going to be the same guy he was in his last fight just like I’m not going to be the same guy you saw on the television show.”
Mickey Gall – “Bottom line is we’re going to fight. I think a lot of people are very excited for this, but everything I’m seeing…we’re not going to put on and pretend to hate each other. There’s an appropriate amount of buildup. I think people are excited and I know we both are.”
CM Punk – “People either love me or hate me already. I’m not trying to talk anybody into the building on this one. I think the allure is just the fact that it’s happening. The story writes itself. It’s not a fabricated thing where I need to create some drama between me and Mickey. We’re going to fight. That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t need to be a weird, verbal pissing contest.”
CM Punk – “This is a competition…I’d imagine our hunger is absolutely the same. You want to prove yourself right. You want to prove the naysayers wrong. You want to show that you belong there, and on top of that, you’re doing something that you love to do and something that you worked very hard at on a daily basis. So there’s somebody else trying to take that away from you and your job is to not let that happen.”
Mickey Gall – “I’m always asked about why I think there’s tough guys from Jersey. I think it’s just everyone thinks they can fight so you find yourself in a couple.”