The UFC fight that 'CM Punk' made, whether or not he knew it

Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson

One way or another, a strange sort of history will be made tonight at UFC Fight Night 82 (formerly UFC 196), and you won’t even have to wait until the main card kicks off to see it.

Way down there on the prelims, where you need a UFC Fight Pass subscription just to see what’s happening, the UFC bring us perhaps the least experienced pairing we’ve seen since the bareknuckle era.

This will happen when Mickey Gall (1-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) takes on Mike Jackson (0-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in the rare UFC fight that only exists to set up another fight. A better way of putting it might be that it only exists to set up another fighter, the one the UFC is actually interested in – former pro wrestler Phil “CM Punk” Brooks, who will fight the winner if it’s Gall but maybe not if it’s Jackson?

The whole thing is weird, in other words. It’s so weird that it’s not even worth discussing if it is weird (it is) or why it is weird (see previous paragraph), allowing us to skip straight to the question of whether it is weird in a way we can enjoy, or at least tolerate.

The answer to that question might depend on who the “we” is. If you’re a fighter, especially one either signed to the UFC or hoping to become so, it’s probably pretty frustrating. If you’re one of the fighters who’s been told he’s not quite good enough for the UFC, like former Bellator and current ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren, frustrating probably doesn’t feel like a strong enough word.

Phil “CM Punk” Brooks

Again, what we’re looking at here is a fight between two welterweights who haven’t proven that they can perform at the highest level of this sport, all to determine who should fight another guy who hasn’t proven the same thing. Fulfilling that purpose is the only reason this bout exists on this fight card.

How is that not supposed to melt your brain if you’re one of the fighters who has taken the lumps and put in the work to get here?

If you’re a fan, however, you have the luxury of taking a different approach. Forget why this fight is happening. Instead, focus on what it is: a bizarre clash of unknown quantities, surrounded by known ones.

Gall is a guy whom UFC President Dana White found in the process of his Internet show where he visits a lot of r?e?s?t?a?u?r?a?n?t?s? small MMA events. Jackson is a guy whom the UFC found specifically to fight Gall.

That’s not to say that none of them can fight. Gall has at least the one win, and he seems like he has hopes of being a serious fighter. He’s also calculating enough to realize that calling out Punk was his best chance to get a UFC shot before he’d earned it. What he may not have considered is what comes after that, once he’s got the UFC contract but not the experience.

Jackson, on the other hand? He seems more like an unapologetic opportunist. He seems like he’s doing this fight because he can, because someone asked him if he wanted to, and because he couldn’t think of a good reason not to. Plus, he brings some personality to the deal, and that doesn’t hurt.

What we’ll get when they meet in the cage tonight at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena is tough to predict. Is this going to be one of those fights that serves as a contrast to remind us how good the seasoned pros really are? Or will this pairing deliver a pleasant surprise courtesy of lowered expectations?

Maybe the better question is, will the UFC’s CM Punk experiment seem more or less legit by the time this is all over?

Because while it will be Gall and Jackson in that octagon, the ghost of the former pro wrestler can’t help but haunt this match. This is all for him, after all. He wanted to try MMA, and UFC executives wanted him to do it in their shop. So began the turning of the wheels that eventually threw Jackson and Gall into this battle of the newbies.

Hopefully while he’s sitting there watching tonight, Mr. Punk likes what he sees. By then, it’ll be too late to do anything about it either way.

For more on UFC Fight Night 82, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.