CM Punk’s bubble of kickstarting his MMA career off to a bang popped like a cherry when Mickey Gall choked the Cult Of Personality, two minutes into the first round itself. Zillions of Punk fans all around the world painstakingly watched the former WWE Champion being destroyed at the hands of the 24-year old fighter from New Jersey.
Gall opened up to the media at the UFC 203 post-fight press conference and spoke about a host of topics that included the build-up to the fight, his future, Sage Northcutt and more. Here are the highlights from it:
First up, Gall felt great to win the hyped bout after three weeks of intense promotion and preparation for the event. He said that he now has his eyes firmly set on the best guys in the division and wants to take them down, one by one.
On being asked about the unpredictability of Punk’s untested prowess in the Octagon, Gall said that it is possible he may have had doubts about it and added that Punk is a phenomenal actor. Gall knew that his ‘kill stuff’ was more than Punk’s ‘kill stuff’, and revealed that he intended on working on his stand up, but had to change his strategy and put Punk on his back when he charged him right from the onset.
Gall showed off how smart a fighter he is after he called out fellow sensation Sage Northcutt for a fight next. He is of the opinion that a showdown with Northcutt is the best for both the men at this juncture.
He then moved on to address the incident of Punk not shaking hands with him at the weigh-ins. Gall recollected the moment when told Punk that he was an actor and all that he was pulling off was part of his acting stunt. He was straightforward to Punk when he said he would hurt Punk in their fight the next day. He judged Punk to be different from the rest of the fighters and even went on to say he ain’t a fighter at all. He backed it by arguing that other fighters display a certain amount of respect to the fellow fighters, as they know what the other is going through. He said it was like a brotherhood that Punk would eventually understand and get a hang of it.
When asked the pivotal question of Whether Punk should indeed put his gloves back on and enter the Octagon for another fight, Gall said that he should think over it and take some more time. He agreed that there is still a truckload of money that can be made off Punk’s name, courtesy of his star power, and said that eventually, Punk would be back for another fight.
He also touched upon the topic of the heat that Punk garnered for the privileges he got for being a ‘superstar’ and defended the former WWE Champion, by saying that he deserved it. It looks quite obvious that Gall is aching for a fight with Sage Northcutt, as he mentioned the tantalizing bout and added that he wanted it to be featured on the UFC 205 card at the Madison Square Garden.
Also read: UFC 203 Post-Fight Press Conference Video: CM Punk gets emotional
Now that the CM Punk fight’s in the books, Gall doesn’t think people will forget him as he will always be remembered as the guy who whooped Punk’s a**. Gall doesn’t count his victory as a great accomplishment as he feels he just beat a fighter, not a great fighter.
“This fight was different. I don’t want to be disparaging, but I was fighting an amateur. I one hundred percent need to prove myself still. That’s why I’m excited to get going now, now the real work, now the real fights.” Gall said he does feel a sense of accomplishment, but he doesn’t feel like he beat a great fighter. “I beat a fighter, not a great fighter,” Gall said.
Finally, Gall was asked about what Punk told him after the fight got over. He revealed that Punk was quite nice to him and told him to always feel like he belonged here. All in all, Punk put across a positive message to Gall and the New Jersey native felt good about it.
Here is what he said at the post-fight press conference video:
