CM Punk May Now Have An Opponent For UFC Debut

CM Punk, or Phil Brooks as he’s known in his day-to-day life, made headlines when he signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) promotion in 2014.

At the time, Brooks was thought of as one of the most valuable commodities in professional wrestling, but he gave all that up to see how he could cut it in an Octagon fighting people for real.

Then 2014 ended and 2015 went by without a peep. People began to wonder when he would make his in-cage debut, and whom he would be facing should that day ever come.

Well, it looks like 2016 is the year, and there may even be an opponent lined up.

While nothing has been confirmed by the UFC at this time, some sources within the company are expecting CM Punk to square off against newcomer Mickey Gall (1-0, 1 Submission), and there is circumstantial evidence to back it up.

UFC President Dana White previously said in comments reported by MMA Fighting that he would be putting CM Punk up against a fighter who was “1-0, 1-1, 2-1, something like that.” Then, White attended Gall’s debut as a professional MMA fighter.

Gall won the bout and then took an opportunity to call out Dana White, imploring him to put him in the cage against CM Punk. White said he was “interested” in the fight, but left it at that.

The uncertainty certainly hasn’t stopped Mickey Gall from talking up the fight.

“They needed to find a light record,” Gall said. “He couldn’t fight some 9-1 guy. So I go in there, I got a win. He’s 0-0. I’m 1-0. That’s a light record. The commission will approve that. I can fight that dude and make the most of that opportunity.”

Not only does Gall feel he will make the most of the opportunity, but he also feels that he will finish CM Punk in one round.

“Honestly, man, I think that guy’s used to going into a ring and whispering to his guy, ‘Hey, let’s do a clothesline. Hey, let’s practice jumping off the ropes and this and that,” Gall said, adding that when CM Punk has Gall “looking to kill him,” he didn’t think that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion — who will be fighting as a welterweight — would be able to handle it.

Gall continued.

“He’s a professional wrestler, and he’s great at that. He’s made himself a millionaire doing that. But now he’s stepping into a different world, and I think he’d be in a lot of trouble. … To be honest, I just think if I hit that dude in his face hard, I don’t think he’s going to react well with that. I like to punch people in the face real hard. Sometimes I use my jiu-jitsu because that’s just where it happens to go, but I think I hit that dude, and he’s not going to like it. I really see myself banging with him a little bit.”

To the credit of CM Punk, he isn’t talking any trash in response to Gall. At least not yet. But Gall isn’t the first young fighter to lay out a challenge to Brooks, and the last time it happened, he wasn’t so kind. Check it in the NSFW video below.

https://youtu.be/f_irLRk4e3M

For the UFC, it would make sense to match CM Punk with a fighter like Mickey Gall or Dillon Pousson (again, see video) as both guys are in the same boat as Brooks.

While a CM Punk win would set up bigger pay-per-view numbers moving forward, a young unbeaten who destroyed Punk in his debut fight would be a star-in-the-making. The company would win either way.

But what do you think, readers?

Is Mickey Gall the right opponent, or does CM Punk have any business fighting in a UFC cage? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via Mickey Gall Instagram]