CM Punk Vs Mickey Gall, The Cult of personality?

 This Saturday Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks makes his long awaited UFC debut against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio.
CM Punk signed for the UFC almost 2 years ago and with some injury roadblocks along the road he is finally ready, or is he?
Training to fight on the local stage is hard enough with many lower MMA promotions having great talent and this is where some of the argument comes from in the signing of CM Punk, Punk obviously has the brand power but social media wasn’t without it’s fair share of people making their voices heard online as to why the UFC signed someone of Punks age over young talent but with the signing of Punk and along with the show ‘Lookin’ For a Fight’ the UFC have made a point to sign young talent such as Randy brown and Sage Northcutt.

Punk has been to the big show before, being one of the WWE’s top superstars, leaving the business at what some would say the top of his career and to make the switch to MMA in his mid thirties? Some would say that is a dream long passed but here he is, making the walk into the UFC Octagon in a few short days. This is where we would normally preview the fight by naming pros and cons for each fighter, strategies and gameplans that work against each style but this fight is a little different, Punk is obviously making his debut and footage of him sparring has only been released recently, mostly to ridicule but one point is that with such big business riding on this fight would his best be shown?
Fight Camps, gameplans etc are usually kept under wraps with any clips released being regulated so as to not give away any tactics. With the footage of Punk sparring, Galls camp will see straight away that Punk throws and brings his arms back to his waist, leaving him open for a number of counter shots. Every fight starts on the feet, the first lesson is defend yourself at all times, Punk at this stage, debuting in the UFC won’t be going out there and putting his hands at his waist. I don’t think we are expecting Punk to be a world beater in his first fight but I do expect the bad technique we have saw in the footage will not have turned into bad habits, or at least for Punks sake, I hope not.

Gall was fairly unknown up until the fight announcement, having only 2 professional fights, the one that got him into the ufc and the impressive first round submission of Mike Jackson at ufc fight night 82. The consensus among MMA fans is that Gall is going to finish Punk and finish him quick and from the footage released that’s not entirely unbelievable, along with the fact that Gall has been training for years, you wouldn’t be crazy for thinking that but I still have to think Punk isn’t giving the media the full story on how far he has come in 2 years of training. With people giving Gall the advantage they also have to consider that Gall is young and doesn’t have the big show experience, Punks big show experience obviously lies with WWE but it’s still time performing In front of thousands of people.
Punk has been vocal that he is doing this to push and test himself, there will be nerves due to everything that has led up to this fight but this may also be a weight off his shoulders, the pressure here may be lying with Gall. Gall wanted this fight, he called out Punk after his debut win in the ufc but this fight comes with so much more work than your standard second fight in the ufc, media work comes second nature to Punk and is something he has been doing every day for years, whereas this is a whole new ball game for Gall, something that just adds to the pressure.

Ultimately all things lead to Punk having a bad night, Gall is young, hungry, has years of training and seems ready to make his mark with a high profile fight that he has every chance of winning but I do think Punk may surprise some people. Under the tutelage of Duke Roufus Punk has had some of the best training in the world for a year and a half. A trainer as high profile as Roufus has a reputation to uphold and every fighter fighting under his name is representing his brand. To put forward a fighter who isn’t ready on a stage this big not only makes the fighter look bad but also the trainer, this is the reason I think CM Punk will surprise us on fight night, he may not win but I expect a good showing from him.

The big mystery behind Punks debut is how is he going to react once the fight starts, with no actual mma fight experience he has yet to experience the difference between sparring in the gym and being locked in a cage with an opponent who has trained just as hard to beat you. Everything changes when you get hit, breathing, technique and gameplans can go out the window in an instant, when breaking down a fight the matter of how does each fighter beat the other is always the main talking point but that here is the biggest mystery and one that makes me excited to watch an 0-0 mma fighter make his debut.

UFC 203 is live on Saturday the 10th of September 2016 and is headlined by heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic taking on challenger Alistair Overeem.