CLEVELAND
Mickey Gall doesn’t plan on just beating CM Punk at UFC 203 – he plans on destroying the former WWE megastar in his UFC debut.
“Within the rule set I’m gonna be going in there to kill him,” Gall said Wednesday after his Open Workout in Gateway Plaza outside Quicken Loans Arena.
Gall and Punk have been on a collision course ever since the young, brash New Jersey native called out the 37-year-old on “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight.” After a long build up and a pair of Punk injuries, Gall is visualizing what’s going to happen when he finally gets to put his hands on Punk – and it’s not good for Punk.
“My last UFC fight brought me a lot of confidence and how great I felt. It was the best I ever felt in a fight,” Gall said. “I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m excited. I keep picturing different ways I’m dominating him. I can’t wait to see which way that’s going to be in the cage.”
In what many expected to be a one-sided affair has slowly turned into more of an unknown when it comes to the actual fight between Gall and Punk. Many thought Punk naively jumped into the MMA waters without real consideration for how difficult it is to be a fighter. But he has pushed through injuries and gained the respect of his entire gym in Milwaukee at Roufusport.
Gall now has to think about the risk-reward factor that comes with fighting a man everybody expects him to beat. Take out Punk and that is what was supposed to happen. Gall is the fighter, after all. But should he lose, he’ll have to be the fighter that lost to Punk.
“High risk, high reward – yeah. A lot of upside but I’m a fighter and any fighter would take that same chance,” Gall said. “It doesn’t matter because I’m going to go in there and do what I do. I’m not worrying about what CM Punk is going to do. I won’t be worried about what my next opponent does and I wasn’t worried about what Michael Jackson was going to do. We’ll go in there and do me.”
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But Gall can’t see a scenario where he doesn’t bring home the win. He’s expecting a great night on Saturday.
“Saturday night is going to be the best night of my life in the cage – I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s going to be the best 15 or less minutes of my life for sure.”
“I am the most hungry fighter in my weight division.”
Matt Parrino is a digital producer and writer for UFC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MattParrinoUFC