The 37-year-old Chicagoan entered the cage vs. 24-year-old Mickey Gall. Pinned up against the fencing, he was unable to get out from under Gall, who landed numerous blows to both sides of Punk’s head.
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UFC 203 was in Miocic’s home state of Cleveland, Ohio, and the roaring crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena – where the National Basketball Association champions the Cleveland Cavaliers play – clearly energised the champion during his first title defence. Punk received a severe beating from Gall as the former used his favorite double-leg takedown to gain the upper hand.
Punk almost got free, but Gall regained a dominant position and squeezed his opponent’s head like he wanted to snap it off. That led to him giving up his back, and eventually tapping out to a rear naked choke – something we saw from him in training. “I just kept scooting to my right, he didn’t like it and he gave me the opportunity when he fell on the ground and when I got on top of him, game over”, Miocic added. It was a hell of a climb. “He put me on my ass, and that guillotine – I trained to get out of it”. “However, I knew that if I got her in the clinch or on the ground I would have the advantage”. “My coaches, they put me through so much, and when I get in a situation like that, I’m always okay”. And for about 15 seconds, I thought he had lost the fight. I don’t care how it happens. Miocic, who is now 16-2 in mixed martial arts, continued to say that he plans to stay the champ for a very long time.
In the first of two fights I (briefly, in this case) preview, Phil Brooks aka CM Punk (+355) of WWE Super-stardom will be pitted against 2-0 hand-picked opponent Mickey Gall (-430).
‘I just fell off a bike. “I hate to travel but I love going away and doing my thing”. I don’t get what the deal is there with the straight edge and the WWE bullshit, with no combat background besides WWE.
Gall said Punk rushing at him in the opening seconds set the tone. “Now he’s going to be able to fight at home and he’s going to have 20,000 people rooting for him, going to be a complete change from what he’s used to and it’s going to be awesome”, he said. ‘I wasn’t surprised he got through those early chokes because I was only half committing, nearly playing a game’.
So while the prestige surrounding the first UFC event in Cleveland would have been more than enough to send everyone home somewhat happy, the positive aura surrounding UFC 203 was shrinking with every fight.
In a short back-and-forth with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in response, Rogan said there was little choice in playing the replay after Overeem’s comments.
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“Believe it or not, this was the most fun I’ve had in my life, second-best night of my life after marrying my wife”. I know there’s a lot of doubters, but life’s about falling down and getting up.
