{"id":9856,"date":"2016-02-04T16:41:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T22:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=9856"},"modified":"2016-02-04T16:41:39","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T22:41:39","slug":"the-bizarre-story-of-c-m-punks-road-to-ufc-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/04\/the-bizarre-story-of-c-m-punks-road-to-ufc-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"The bizarre story of C.M. Punk&#8217;s Road to UFC debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-708943135\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>There is starting to be more attention on C.M. Punk&#8217;s UFC debut fight scheduled for later this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The main reason is UFC holding a\u00a0&#8220;qualifying fight&#8221; for Punk&#8217;s potential debut opponent, Mickey Gall, this weekend. Two other reasons are the bizarre nature of Gall&#8217;s opponent and a new C.M. Punk interview that was more newsworthy for what was unwilling to discuss.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The first part is that Gall faces Michael (Mike) Jackson in a preliminary fight at UFC Fight Night on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>If Gall wins, he advances to face Punk in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>If Gall loses to Jackson, well, that&#8217;s where things get bizarre.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The second part of this situation is that Mike Jackson is not even a pro fighter. Jackson has some amateur and boxing fighting background, but he is a photographer, broadcaster, and college student who just finished his degree at the University of Houston.<\/p>\n<p>So, he thought it was a joke when UFC contacted him to fight Mickey Gall with the idea being a chance to fight Punk. But, the way UFC is marketing the fight is that only Gall will get to face Punk if he wins.\u00a0So, Jackson\u00a0is more interested in using this fight to promote his regular line of work in MMA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand the outcome <em>could be<\/em> I get \u2018Punk,\u2019 and I\u2019m well aware of that,\u201d he told <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2016\/02\/mike-jackson-fans-dont-want-cm-punk-in-the-ufc-ill-end-that-journey-in-one-punch\" target=\"_blank\">MMAjunkie<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate goal, because that will take the \u2018Mike the Truth\u2019 brand to another level.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2819119922\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>But, if Jackson beats Gall and gets to fight Punk, he would more than welcome the chance to face Punk.<\/p>\n<p id=\"paragraph14\" class=\"pgh-paragraph\">&#8220;You have CM Punk, who has no MMA experience, fighting. You got this kid Mickey Gall, who literally wins one fight &#8212; he&#8217;s fighting in some small town in Jersey that Dana White\u00a0happened to be at and was like, &#8216;I want to fight C.M. Punk.&#8217; And he gets signed by the UFC. And then you got me. All my experience is in boxing and kickboxing. Now I&#8217;m in the UFC. It&#8217;s like, &#8216;What the f&#8212; is going on here?'&#8221; he was quoted by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2016\/2\/3\/10796838\/the-path-to-cm-punk-goes-through-mike-jackson-who-thinks-the-whole\" target=\"_blank\">MMAFighting.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">&#8211; Enter C.M. Punk for the third part of this situation. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.complex.com\/sports\/2016\/02\/cm-punk-second-act\" target=\"_blank\">Complex.com<\/a> published an\u00a0interview with Punk tapping into his\u00a0anti-social, leave-me-alone attitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">Punk simply wants to train, prepare for his debut fight, and have the fight, not talk to people asking the same questions about whether he can actually hang in the octagon or if this is some sort of publicity stunt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">And, Punk does not want to talk about his former line of work through\u00a0WWE.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t feel like fielding questions about it [WWE],\u201d Punk told reporter Kevin Wong at a recent media event with the New Jersey Devils. \u201cI\u2019ve been there, I\u2019ve done that, and I\u2019ve accomplished everything I was going to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">Punk offered a final shot at UFC critics, which will grow in number as the date draws closer to Punk&#8217;s debut fight. It&#8217;s the opposite of the pro wrestling world, where people still chant his name at WWE shows and won&#8217;t leave him alone in Chicago, as documented by the Complex.com report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">&#8220;I don\u2019t give a s&#8212;\u00a0what anybody thinks of me, whether I\u2019m going to fight or not. I know what I\u2019m going to do,&#8221; Punk said.\u00a0\u201cIf I did anything in my life based on someone\u2019s negative opinion on me, I would never f&#8212;&#8212;\u00a0leave my house. My fans are people who don\u2019t tweet negative s&#8212;\u00a0at me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">Things will get even more interesting if Gall wins his fight on Saturday, setting the stage for Punk&#8217;s UFC debut. The noise will grow even louder, forcing Punk to deal with it or be rattled before he even steps into the cage.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2991776336\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"pgh-paragraph\">[ READ MORE: Live coverage of this weekend&#8217;s UFC fight card at our sister site, <a href=\"http:\/\/mmatorch.com\" target=\"_blank\">MMATorch.com<\/a> ]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2235316025\"><div id=\"pwtor-4011537872\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>There is starting to be more attention on C.M. Punk&#8217;s UFC debut fight scheduled for later this summer. The main reason is UFC holding a\u00a0&#8220;qualifying fight&#8221; for Punk&#8217;s potential debut opponent, Mickey Gall, this weekend. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/04\/the-bizarre-story-of-c-m-punks-road-to-ufc-debut\/\" title=\"The bizarre story of C.M. Punk&#8217;s Road to UFC debut\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,3],"tags":[283,1526,188,71],"class_list":["post-9856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news_mma","category-news_wwe","tag-cm-punk","tag-mickey-gall","tag-ufc","tag-wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Punk_3x2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9857,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions\/9857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}