Former WWE star Phil “CM Punk” Brooks took part in a conference call with media on Thursday afternoon along with his opponent Mickey Gall to hype his MMA debut at UFC 203 in two weeks on September 10 live in Cleveland, Ohio.
Here are a few highlights from the call.
* Mickey Gall thinks once the fight gets going and they really, in his words, “get in the sh*t”, that CM Punk will shut down.
* Punk isn’t expecting this to be a “one and done” fight and stated he has a decent amount of fights left on his current UFC contract.
* Punk predicted a TKO win over Gall next Saturday and doesn’t think the fight needs pro wrestling style promos adding, “We are going to fight, that’s the beauty of it.”
* When asked what he learned the most during his last year and a half of training for his MMA debut, Punk said the sport is a mental game.
* Punk revealed he isn’t so sure he would have been rushed to the UFC had he opted to not re-sign with the WWE back in 2011. He also stated he has been wanting to make the transition to MMA since 2009 while under contract with WWE.
* He also had an interesting answer regarding his current friendship with MMA fighter Chael Sonnen, who Punk was slated to walk with to the cage back in January 2012 and was pulled from the show by Vince McMahon when he was WWE Champion.
Punk talks about still being good friends with Chael Sonnen and telling him he can’t do his podcasts because “I can’t do podcasts anymore”
— Adam Martin (@adamwrestleview) September 1, 2016
* When asked about being in the spotlight and having a fight just before the co-main event at UFC 203, Gall stated he took full advantage by calling Punk out in the first place in front of UFC President Dana White and wants to fight on a big stage like this.
* Punk described his MMA training as being a grind, but less stressful compared to his pro wrestling career where he was constantly traveling, trying to find time to stay in shape and try to operate on a lack of sleep. He called training for MMA a “vacation.”
You can listen to the full call below courtesy of UFC.