While many have shared their opinion regarding CM Punk's MMA future and how it shouldn't have anything to do with the UFC, the man who competed against the former WWE Superstar in his first professional MMA fight doesn't agree.
Mickey Gall spoke with Ariel Helwani on a recent episode of "The MMA Hour" at MMAFighting.com and shared his thoughts on the UFC/CM Punk "experiment." As Gall explained during his appearance on the show (listen above), Punk brought a lot of interest to this month's UFC 203 and converted a lot of WWE and pro wrestling fans to UFC and mixed-martial-arts fans.
“I think a lot of people were interested,” Gall said of the UFC 203 event, which is rumored to have drawn between 425,000-475,000 buys on pay-per-view. “It brought a lot of WWE fans to watch, a lot of guys who wouldn’t have been watching who like the violent stuff, who like this type of action, it brought them over. I had a lot of people contact me to say, ‘I watched this fight for Punk and I’m an MMA fan now.’ I think it worked. I think it was a smart move and I think it worked.”
Gall also addressed the reaction to Punk's reported purse for their PPV main card fight in Cleveland, Ohio earlier this month. Gall earned a $6,000 guaranteed purse with a $6,000 "win bonus" as an incentive, a standard style of payment for many fighters in the promotion, for his first-round submission victory over Punk last weekend. Meanwhile, Punk earned a $500,000 guaranteed purse, believed to only be a fraction of the total income Punk generated from the bout.
Despite the hefty salary for his MMA debut and the fact that it dwarfed many purses even top fighters get in the UFC these days, Punk won't be catching any flack from Gall, as he made it clear to Helwani that Punk is a Superstar who has earned the right to receive Superstar-level pay.
“It’s cool,” Gall said. “He’s a superstar. There’s a reason why he’s there. Without him, I’m not in that spot, either. It’s cool. It’s all good. I’m not mad at that, no way.”
For video highlights of the CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall fight from this month's UFC 203 pay-per-view, click here.
RELATED NEWS:
* Duke Roufus (CM Punk's MMA Coach): "I Think CM Punk Is Going To Fight Again"