UFC 203 was a great event for many reasons, but one of the most memorable moments of the entire card was the professional MMA debut of former professional wrestler CM Punk.
Unfortunately for Punk, his MMA debut did not go as planned as Mickey Gall smashed and bashed him on route to a submission in just over two minutes of the opening round.
Gall recently spoke with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about how he wanted to make an example out of the former pro wrestler.
"I 100 percent felt a strong obligation to make an example out of him…I felt indebted to my sport, to the veterans of my sport — everyone in my sport — to go in there and dominate every second of this fight."
Gall even talked about Punk’s game plan, which he was expecting him to do, which then caused Gall to go back to his amateur wrestling roots.
"I kind of expected it…I had a feeling he was gonna feel like, ‘I have something to prove, I'm a fighter. I'm gonna come in there and be a tough fighter.' Once I get in there, I let my training take over. I'm not thinking in there. He crossed the line in my head of how far he should be. I wanted to keep him at a certain range. When you come in that hot, I'm gonna take you down."
Gall, while wanting to make an example out of the professional wrestler, was also quick to admit that professional wrestlers are tough.
"I figured he'd be tough, man…Those wrestlers, they're tough guys. They're slamming themselves around and stuff. It was pretty much what I expected. I knew once he got in there with me, I was gonna be able to just dominate him."
Although Gall primarily used his wrestling and jiu-jitsu game to get the submission win, but he had been working on his striking in his training for the fight.
"I've been ruthless…I've just been really committed and I've been really smart about it. I saw the videos of him and I would have liked to have knocked him out. I wanted a knockout. That was the plan."
