UFC President Dana White Reveals When CM Punk Will Make His UFC Debut
Former WWE superstar CM Punk officially signed with the UFC a little over a year ago, and while he didn’t fight in 2015, it appears that we finally have the date for his UFC debut, which will take place towards the middle of this year.
It has been rumored for some time now that the UFC was planning on having CM Punk make his debut with the company at July’s UFC 200 event, which may end up being the biggest event in the history of the company. However, UFC president Dana White appeared on the Toucher and Rich Show and revealed that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion would not be fighting at UFC 200 this summer.
According to White, CM Punk will make his octagon debut a month before UFC 200, at UFC 199 in June of this year.
“The CM Punk fight is probably going to be in June. UFC 199 is what I’m thinking. You know [CM Punk] has never fought, he’s just started training and, you know, this is a tough business to get into. When Brock Lesnar came into the UFC, you know, he had a serious wrestling pedigree, and not just WWE wrestling, legit collegiate wrestling. CM Punk doesn’t have any of that. It’s going to be tough for him.”
As for why the UFC is planning on having CM Punk debut one month before what is projected to be one of their biggest shows of all-time, well, it’s likely that the UFC feels like UFC 200 will sell itself without CM Punk being on the card, and they could be curious about just how big of a draw CM Punk is on his own.
In previous interviews, CM Punk has said that he doesn’t believe that his debut fight will be the main-event, or even the co-main-event of a pay-per-view card. However, due to the fact that Punk’s debut was the first fight announced for the card in June, it’s likely that it’ll be one of the top two fights on the show.
As for who Punk will fight in June, well, that will be decided next month at UFC 196, where Mickey Gall, who was introduced to UFC fans on the Dana White Looking for a Fight show, will make his UFC debut against Mike Jackson, who will also be making his UFC debut.
Mickey Gall has a professional record of 1-0, with his one win coming by way of submission, via rear-naked choke, in the very first round.
Gall’s opponent at UFC 196, Mike Jackson, will be making his professional debut, and as an amateur fighter, Jackson has a record of 0-1, with his loss coming by way of a unanimous decision. So, it seems pretty obvious that Jackson is there to lose to Gall, so the UFC can setup Gall vs. CM Punk.
Dana White has made it clear that, if Jackson does somehow defeat Gall, he won’t be the guy to face CM Punk in June, and so far, a backup plan hasn’t been announced if Jackson does win, but White will surely think of something if that happens.
CM Punk will be in attendance during the Gall vs. Jackson fight at UFC 196, and it’s likely that after the fight, Gall and Punk will have a face-to-face interview inside the cage to hype their fight at UFC 199.
Gall has already been hyping the fight in his own way on his Instagram page, saying that he would love to be the one to welcome CM Punk to the MMA world this summer. So far, Punk hasn’t responded to anything that Gall has thrown his way, but if Gall wins his fight next month, expect Punk to begin going back and forth with him.
[Featured image via Josh Hedges/Getty Images]
