CM Punk Officially Announces His UFC Debut

Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star CM Punk signed with the UFC almost two-years-ago, and since then has yet to see any form of Octagon action.

Now coming off of successful back surgery, Punk is all set to make his highly-anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) debut, against UFC President Dana White’s Lookin For A Fight standout, Mickey Gall.

On the most recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered Podcast with Matt Serra and Jim Norton, Punk revealed he will finally see Octagon action against Gall at UFC 203 in Cleveland:

“I’ve been laying low media-wise, because I have nothing to say,” Punk said. “You can’t talk a bunch of s–t until you’ve been in there, and I haven’t been. The instant I got cleared, I got on the horn and nailed everything down, and I’ll be debuting September 10 in Cleveland.”

“I’m happy to have a date, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. You keep training and keep training until you hit a wall, and that was the point I was at. I found out I’ve been walking around with a herniated disk for probably years,” Punk said.

The UFC made it official on Twitter this morning:

BREAKING: @CMPunk announces on #UFCUnfiltered he'll debut vs @MickeyGall at #UFC203!!!! ➡️ https://t.co/kQZBxHzDcK pic.twitter.com/3jDGUruLVO

— UFC (@ufc) June 23, 2016

Gall (2-0) is coming off a first round thrashing of Mike Jackson at UFC Fight Night 82 in February, when he stopped Jackson in just forty-five seconds via rear-naked choke.

UFC 203 takes place live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 10, 2016. The event is headlined by a heavyweight title bout between champion Stipe Miocic, who makes his first career title defense in his hometown, against No. 3-ranked Alistair Overeem.