Debuting fighter Mickey Gall knew that a win over Mike Jackson at UFC Fight Night 82 last night would book him a high-profile fight with CM Punk and he wasted no time grabbing that golden opportunity, stopping his opponent in just 45 seconds by rear-naked choke.
Former pro-wrestler turned MMA fighter CM Punk was watching cage-side and the two squared off briefly for the cameras afterwards.
“‘It was very impressive, that’s how I want to win a fight,” Punk told the Daily Mail afterwards. “That’s got to be great feeling and I’ll find out after I beat Mickey Gall.”
Gall now improves to 2-0 in his fledgling MMA career, while Punk remains an MMA novice, having never competed professionally in the sport and only been training full time since signing up to the UFC in December of 2014.
However, after over a year of intensive training behind closed doors at Roufusport MMA academy Punk’s debut is now looming on the horizon with Dana White hinting last night that the fight is likely to take place at UFC 199, which is likely to take place in June.
“We were looking at June at [UFC 199], so we’ll see what happens,” White told the media. “I know [Punk wants UFC 200]. Everybody wants to fight at 200, but I can’t put everybody on 200.”
While it won’t be drawing the same attention as the historic UFC 200 show, UFC 199 will still be a significant show with a middleweight title rematch between Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman set to take on headline duties.
