There was a lot of fanfare when former WWE superstar CM Punk decided to join the UFC back in 2014 and his debut has been highly anticipated. Punk, real name Phil Brooks, had his debut delayed for an injury before and now it will happen again as he is set to undergo back surgery, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.
Punk is scheduled to undergo back surgery this week in Chicago to repair a herniated disc. The former WWE Champion has been dealing with the injury since back in his wrestling days but he says the injury has gotten worse recently.
"My back has always bugged me, figured it was just wrestling s--t, turns out it was. It got bad enough to the point where I couldn't do anything the week before I went to train with the New Jersey Devils last month. One day I could manage, the next day I couldn't. I've been in agony for almost a month. Chiropractor, acupuncture, massage, cryotherapy, nothing worked," says Punk.
The timing of Punk's latest injury is poor because it had just been announced who he would be fighting in his debut. The opponent is set to be 24-year-old Mickey Gall who is coming off a win over Mike Jackson who happened to be making his UFC debut as well. Gall won that fight via first-round rear-naked choke and is a considerable favorite to beat Punk when they do meet, according to Tim Burke of Bloody Elbow.
Gall and Punk's fight was never given an actual date but it was expected that they would meet up at UFC 199 where Luke Rockhold Vs. Chris Weidman would be the main event. UFC 200 was also an option for the fight as the UFC has been trying to push that as one of their biggest cards ever but now neither is an option.
Punk has now been signed to the UFC for more than a year but at age 37 injuries have been slowing him down. First it was a shoulder injury, now it is a back injury but despite the adversity Punk remains positive and sees it as "just a bump in the road." A timetable for Punk's return is expected to be around 4-6 weeks after the surgery and it is a very similar procedure to the one that Cain Velasquez just had done.
