C.M. Punk says he doesn’t plan on his debut MMA fight next Saturday, Sept. 10 at UFC 203 being his last fight. “To say this is a one and done I think that’s premature,” he said to the media in a conference call yesterday. “I’m also old and wise enough to never say never. Who knows what’s going to happen. I’m in this for the long haul. I have a decent number of fights on my contract and I’m looking to fulfill it.”
Mickey Gall says he has a multi-fight contract, also, and he plans to never return to the regional fight scene. “My contract is for more of this fight,” he said. “I don’t want to go back to the region scene. I’m in UFC to stay. I want to fight the best in the world. This is where I belong.
As far as a prediction, Gall made it clear he believes he’ll easily beat Punk, whom he isn’t impressed with from what he’s seen on “The Evolution of Punk.” Punk wasn’t eager to offer a prediction. “I see my hand getting raised,” he said. “I’m not really one for many predictions… If I had to pick, I’d pick TKO.”
Either way, Punk said he’s not looking past Sept. 10. “My mindset hasn’t changed at all,” he said when asked if training for a UFC fight ahs changed his commitment to fighting as a new career. “If the sun comes up, it’s a good day. I train and I work towards the goal. I don’t think past this fight. I’m not looking at who number two is going to be. I’m must focused on this one. To say this is a one and done, I think that’s premature.
Keller’s Analysis: If I were to try to read into anything, I’d say Punk revealed he doesn’t feel he has some sort of superior advantage on the ground to submit Gall, so a TKO is more likely, which is basically stating the obvious. He also indicated, although I suspect he’d say this no matter what, that the hard training hasn’t turned him off to MMA. He did stop short of saying he absolutely has fallen in love with MMA and is going to do this until they kick him out, but it’s not necessarily his personality to be that ebullient about anything. I do have news for Gall – if he loses to Punk, he’s probably going to end up on the regional scene whether he likes it or not, because it probably means he’s not at UFC-level fighter (unless Punk turns out to be a prodigy at age 37, which while possible, is just objectively unlikely).
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