5 Reasons CM Punk Won’t Succeed in UFC
By Tim Sherry
2. Mickey Gall is Pretty Good
It seems lost upon all the hoopla behind CM Punk’s UFC debut that 24-year-old Mickey Gall seems to be a good fighter and a legit prospect. It’s still very early in his MMA career but Gall has already had two amateur fights and two professional fights. His two professional fights have lasted a combined 3:38 and both have ended with Gall submitting his opponent with a rear naked choke, the latter of the two wins being his UFC debut. Gall has already accomplished what Punk is attempting in their UFC 203 bout.
Now I’m not putting Gall in the UFC Hall Of Fame just yet. His two pro wins have come against guys also making their debuts so he hasn’t been really tested. But where Punk may have his biggest (and possibly only) advantage is in training camps. Roufusport has turned out world champions in Anthony Pettis and Ben Askren along with UFC contenders Sergio Pettis, Erik Koch, Chico Camus, and Dustin Ortiz. Gall trains at UFC stalwart Jim Miller’s gym in New Jersey, a very new gym with much less prestige than that of Roufus’ facility.
However, at the end of the day, Gall is younger, more experienced, and as evidenced by his 45-second destruction of Mike Jackson in February, he has power and a killer instinct. As much as Punk is putting on the line, Gall is putting up more. The idea of losing to a former pro wrestler with zero MMA experience could be a career destroyer for Gall. For that reason, Gall will be hungry and dangerous. All these things added up, Punk will have his hands full with Gall and trying to fight off a guy 13 years his junior, may be a task that Punk is not prepared for.
Next: No. 1