CM Punk didn't fare too well in his Ultimate Fighting Championship appearance at UFC 203, losing by rear-naked choke to Mickey Gall in the opening round after getting handled for the entirety of the bout. But the mixed martial arts (MMA) novice is back training at Roufusport in Milwaukee, WI once more, according to his teammate, UFC Welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley.
Woodley was a guest on The MMA Hour recently and spoke about Punk returning to training.
"For sure, he was in the gym the other day," Woodley said. "I was there. I saw his car outside, and I came in, I was going to say what's up to him. And then I guess he was in the shower when I was changing, so I missed him, but yeah he's back in the gym training."
Gall took Punk down immediately at UFC 203 and dominated him on the canvas before locking in the fight-ending submission at 2:14 of the first round (highlights). Woodley said he and other teammates were surprised that Gall went in for the takedown so quickly, and disappointed Punk didn't get to strike at all during the bout.
"We expected the guy to [try to] out-strike him, so we were going to try and bum-rush him and... I'm not going to tell the whole game plan, we might have to use it again. But in general we tried to close the gap quickly and get hands on him, and the take down just surprised me and everybody else. We all knew there was a chance he could potentially lose, but I would have liked him to just show a little something, because he has worked so damn hard."
After an embarrassing defeat, Punk's UFC return remains uncertain as UFC president Dana White said he "probably shouldn't have his next fight in the UFC," but Woodley definitely wants to see his teammate return to the Octagon.
"For sure," he said. "I want to see him fight the dude that that Belal Muhammad just fought, the dude with the red mohawk [Augusto Montano]. I think he's a dude from a TUF [The Ultimate Fighter] show, a TUF show guy. I think Mickey Gall was pretty good. That was a big cup of coffee for [Punk]."
Woodley defends his UFC Welterweight title at UFC 205 against No.2-ranked UFC Welterweight Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson on November 12, 2016.