Mickey Gall reveals what he told CM Punk after UFC weigh-in handshake refusal
On Friday at the UFC 203 weigh-ins, UFC welterweight and former professional wrestler CM Punk refused to shake his opponent Mickey Gall's hand.
This prompted Gall to issue a number of statements to him, but none anyone in the media or audience could hear. When asked about what Gall during an interview that followed the weigh-ins on Fox Sports 1, Punk, or Phil Brooks, said he didn't really know.
"I don't know," Brooks said. "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."
After Saturday night, though, Brooks was unable to do that, landing zero strikes in the fight with Gall that he lost in the first round via submission.
Gall also told the media after the fight he wasn't stuttering at all.
"It's funny," he said, "my sister just told me that he said I was stuttering when I was talking to him. I'll tell you exactly what I said.
"When he didn't shake my hand and he was giving me that hard look, I said, 'You're an actor. You're still acting. We're fighting tomorrow. You know what's going to happen. I'm going to hurt you.' And then he kept staring at me as he walked off. I said, 'Keep looking at me.' That's all."
According to Gall, he's not entirely sure why Brooks did that, but his hunch is that Brooks's decision to not engage in pleasantries was a sign that the process of being a fighter was still too new.
"I think it shows that he's still not a fighter to the degree other guys are," he said. "Guys who've been through it, guys who've really blood, sweat and tears, you're going to shake your guy's hand. You're going to give him respect because you know he's been through the same stuff. It's like a brotherhood. You're going in there to try and kill each other, but you have that baseline respect."
As for the future, Gall argued the more Brooks does this, the more he'll naturally realize shaking hands isn't being overly friendly with opposition. Punk might be 37 years of age to Gall's 24, but Gall argued he's the veteran of the two.
"He'll get that. It's a maturing process," Gall said. "He's a two-year guy. He'll learn."