A 1-0 fighter named Mickey Gall caught the eye of UFC President Dana White on the UFC President’s new web series “Looking for a Fight,” and he’s trying to set himself up to be CM Punk’s MMA debut opponent.
Gall called to White in the crowd after a win on a local card in Philadelphia, and said he wanted to fight Punk. White was amused by the call out, telling Gall he liked where his head was at. Since the episode’s early preview released on UFC Fight Pass, Gall has continued his push for the fight with the former pro wrestling star.
Hey @CMPunk. Hi. I am extremely free in July. You busy? Would love to welcome you to the mma world. #UFC200 @danawhite @ufc @lorenzofertitta
— Mickey Gall (@mickeygall) January 5, 2016
“I found out [that White and company would be in attendance] a little bit less than a month before the fight,” Gall said in an interview with MMAFighting.com. “Frankie Perez, who owns that series, called me, and I was like, ‘Dude, listen.’ I already had an opponent fall through, so I was like, ‘Oh, s***. What is it? What?’ He goes, ‘Listen, big news. Dana White’s going to be there.’ And my heart kind of, I got excited but also nervous as heck right away. I was like, ‘Alright, man, cool.’ He said, ‘This is a big opportunity, blah, blah, blah.’
“Then he gets on the phone with me, and I’m like, ‘Oh. I’m going to call out CM Punk for sure.’ It was so obvious to me,” Gall continued. “That’s the only guy in the UFC for me right now, you know? They needed to find a light record. He couldn’t fight some 9-1 guy. So I go in there, I got a win. He’s 0-0. I’m 1-0. That’s a light record. The commission will approve that. I can fight that dude and make the most of that opportunity.
“Honestly, man, I think that guy’s used to going into a ring and whispering to his guy, ‘Hey, let’s do a clothesline. Hey, let’s practice jumping off the ropes and this and that. I think when he gets in there and he has me coming at him looking to kill him, I don’t think he’ll be able to handle it. He’s a professional wrestler, and he’s great at that. He’s made himself a millionaire doing that. But now he’s stepping into a different world, and I think he’d be in a lot of trouble.”
Penick’s Analysis: This is exactly the type of opponent the UFC’s going to need to get for Punk in order to have a commission sanction it to begin with. We still don’t have much of an update on how long it’s going to take Punk to be ready to fight, but Gall is doing the smart thing in taking full advantage of the situation to put himself into the light. If he gets his shot out of this, good for him.
Attention iPhone/iPad users, if you’ve enjoyed our app in the past and followed us there, or if you’ve never checked it out, make sure to update to the latest version in the Apple store. We’ve launched a new look for the app, in line with our recent desktop overhaul. Make sure to check it out! An update to our Android app is on its way soon as well, so Android users keep an eye out for that update soon!
Leave a Reply