UFC 217 will feature a welterweight bout between Mickey Gall and Randy Brown on Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden. Gall and FanSided MMA have teamed up to give you an exclusive weekly blog heading into the big event at MSG.

Editor’s note: Mickey Gall’s week 1 blog is told to and transcribed by Mike Heck.

Where have I been since UFC on FOX 22?

Since the fight with Sage Northcutt, when I got my stitches (above my right eye) ripped open, I needed a rest. But I also wanted to take some time for myself. I wanted to step away from the limelight, focus on training and keep doing what I’ve been doing. What got me here was being smart – saying the right things, being at the right place at the right time, but what I’m really about is my work ethic. I put in more work than anybody. I work harder, go deeper and go farther than anyone. That’s what I’ve been doing.

I’m young. I grow so much in a month and I really put that hard work in. It will be almost 11-months when I get back in the cage since my last fight. That can be three years of growth for a normal fighter in the UFC and that’s due to the magnitude of the work I put in.

Every time the moment hits, I become bigger than the moment… doesn’t phase me.

Since I’ve been out of action, I’ve really been focusing on my strength and my striking. I’ve been working doggedly with my coach Sean Diggs at World Class Boxing. We’ve put in so much work and I’m really proud of what we have accomplished. Everything has gone according to plan. I told myself, “I’ll take some time, keep developing myself and just work on getting better and better and better.” That’s what I did. I pushed myself hard, I stayed healthy, didn’t get injured, I pushed myself to right where my body could do no more and then I’d take a couple of days rest before getting right back to it. I’ve been putting in some crazy work.

I talk about this because people don’t see it. People think I have just been lucky. I was talking to friends about this and they tell me, “Dude, you work so hard. You deserve this because of all the work you put in.” The problem is nobody sees it. You see me for, at the most, 15 minutes. As MMA fighters, we put in so much f**kin work, but you only get to see us for 15 minutes. If we don’t have it in that 15 minutes, then you ain’t s**t. You have to be that guy for 15 minutes. That’s another thing about me, I always perform. Every time the moment hits, I become bigger than the moment. It doesn’t phase me. I know I perform when the time comes but it’s the work I’m doing you don’t see that gives me confidence.

Like I was saying before, people are saying, “Oh, Mickey Gall got lucky.” People are jealous of me. They don’t understand it’s not luck. I’ve gotten to this point because of the hard work I’ve put in. All winter and summer I’ve been working hard with my brother “O.G.” Billy Dee Williams from Beyond Fitness. Recently we kicked it into another gear and have been working with Joe DeFranco [from DeFranco’s Gym}, world-renowned coach, one of the best in the business. Since I’ve been working with them, people use the term, “You’ve been bodying up 205ers.” I’ve been bodying up, throwing around 205 pounders. I’ve been bodying up, throwing around 185 pounders. Can you imagine what I’m going to be able to do to (1)70 pounders? I feel so f**king strong, I feel like a monster. I was 205 (pounds) at the beginning of summer. Right now, I’m sitting at 185, comfortably.

I feel good and I’m staying ahead of my weight. I’ve been working with a nutritionist, Tom Bilella in Red Bank, NJ at Nutrition Treatment Center. I’m feeding myself optimally, I’m fueling myself perfectly and I’m getting the most out of my workouts. It’s really showing.

The Road to UFC 217

From what I understand, the first person to ask for this fight was Randy Brown. It was definitely surprising to me because he and I have trained together at Renzo Gracie’s in New York City. We both saw each other at a regional show in New Jersey and said, “Let’s get some work in together. We’re both coming off of Dana White’s show, let’s do it.” He actually approached me, we went in to work and it was good. We did grappling, wrestling and jiu-jitsu there, which you guys would think is my strength. I’d say it went very well for me.

As far as where it went from there, I think I was in Denver and someone on Twitter sent me a screenshot of him. His opponent fell out from UFC 208, he was supposed to fight George Sullivan and tagged Dana White saying, “What about Mickey Gall?” My reaction was “Huh? That’s kind of weird.” I have the opinion I wouldn’t want to fight my friends, or anyone I would consider a friend, because my best night would be their worst night. After he called me out, I was like ‘F**k him’. So now, since he asked for it, I’m going to have to give him the worst night of his life.

I’m going to have to give him the worst night of his life

This fight is kind of hot; we’re both coming off of that show, I did the show perfectly. Sage was the guy and then I beat him and took the ‘Dana White’s Looking For a Fight’ belt. I called out CM Punk, got the fight, then I beat up the UFC darling. Now, I got that heat. There’s a lot of guys who are jealous of me and want to try their hand. Randy Brown is going to find out on Nov. 4 that it was a bad move. It was a bad move. I bet he thought it was a good business move. He probably thought to himself, “Mickey Gall has all of this shine, let me try to get a whack at him.” It’s a high-risk, high-reward situation. But he’s done, he’s dead.

This is another loss for him. He’s going to get another loss. People say, “Mickey’s a young fighter,” then they question my striking. The thing is, I haven’t had to show my striking. Think about who I’ve fought. Against Sage, purposely, you know I’m a strategic thinker and think ahead, I didn’t need my striking in that fight. I’m going to just go in there, grapple with this dude and crush him on the floor. CM Punk charges right at me, I was definitely going to hit him a few times, but he came in too hot and put him on his back. My first fight, Michael Jackson, the first punch I throw drops him in 45 seconds. Sage, I knew I could crush him on the ground, grapple, suck the wind out of him. He ends up hitting me, cutting open all my stitches and I said, “He’s done.” I throw one punch and Sage is on his butt. Sage Northcutt is now shooting for the takedown.

You guys haven’t gotten to see my striking. We’re definitely going to see some this fight. You’re going to see me drop more people. I drop everybody. I hit people and they go down. They get concussions and they go down.