Why CM Punk refused to shake Gall’s hand

Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks was a WWE superstar, who rolled with Ryron and Rener Gracie on occasion, and was a huge UFC fan.

At some point, Punk decided he wanted to try to compete in mixed martial arts. There is a well-understood path to competing in sports. First, you learn the sport. Then you compete in it. Then you get good. If you are great at it, you can turn professional.

Punk took a different approach, signing with the UFC, and then starting training. Nearly two years later, his coach, the great Duke Roufus, has deemed him ready, and he will fight on the main card of UFC 203 on Saturday night.

One of a number of puzzling aspects of the lead-up to the fight has been the lack of pro-wrestling-type antics that so effectively put asses in seats. There have been no screaming matches. Punk has leveled no colorful insults at his opponent Mickey Gall. He has no signature saying for the fight.

In contrast with fellow WWE to UFC transplant Brock Lesnar, Punk frequently says he is grateful to the MMA team around him and professes genuine admiration for them. He explains over and again that he is aware most MMA fans and many fighters are well are not impressed with his Fire Aim Ready approach. He says, accurately, that he is putting in hard work, pursuing a dream. In sum, Punk seems normal.

At the UFC 203 weigh-ins, Punk took a tiny heel turn, and refused to shake hands with Gall at the public weigh-ins. On the FOX Sports 1 weigh-in show, Megan Olivi asked Punk what Gall had said to him, and why he refused the proferred hand.

“I don’t know,” said Punk, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. “He was stuttering. He kept repeating, ‘Oh you don’t want to shake my hand, you don’t want to shake my hand’ or something like that. I’m not here to shake anybody’s hand. I’m here to punch people in the face.”

“I think once I had an opponent, once I had a date and once I was free of that damn herniated disc I was walking around with for who knows how long, I was a different person. It’s one thing to train, it’s another thing to train with a singular purpose and that’s what I got in Mickey Gall. I know this is a difficult sport to master. I look forward to mastering it sometime and I realize that will probably never happen, but I will get as good as I possibly can.”

For the record, the real reason Punk refused to shake hands is obvious.

Punk also discussed the weight cut, which is one of the least pleasant things in MMA, even for a seasoned pro. For a first timer, at 37, coming down from perhaps 200 pounds or more when he began the quest, it must have been terrible.

To his credit, he took it in stride

“I’m not gonna say it was easy,” said Punk. “There’s a level of difficulty that goes along with it and I’m a fat kid at heart and I love food and that’s obviously the hardest part.”

CM Punk fights Mickey Gall in the main event of UFC 203 on Saturday, September 10, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.