CM Punk's highly anticipated debut will take place in less than two weeks, and while much of the focus remains on CM Punk himself, another man is also preparing for the biggest fight of his life: Mickey Gall.

Gall won the right to fight Punk after beating Mike Jackson earlier this year. The build-up has been long with multiple injury pull-outs and delays, but Gall has never lost sight of how lucky he is to be fighting such a big name.

"It's a weird situation, but I'm in a very fortunate spot," Gall said on the UFC Unfiltered Podcast. "It's a big fight, it's a big name, and it's not a typical killer you'd find in the UFC."

Given the fight on September 10 will be Punk's first, many are saying the more-experienced Gall could slip up by underestimating his opponent. Gall refutes this, and remains adamant that underestimating Punk is the last thing that is going to happen.

"Absolutely not, it'd be stupid for me to do that," Gall said. "This fight is high-risk, but high-reward. If I win, it will really help my MMA career. It will be a lot of exposure and I will get to continue on with my dream of being in the UFC. If I lose, then I look like a freakin' asshole. Everyone treats him like a joke, so I'm not making that mistake, and I'm taking him very seriously."

To help him prepare, Gall hired a sports psychologist.

"I love it; I feel amazing" Gall said. "My last fight, my first UFC fight, it was the best I ever felt going into a fight. I've been working with a sports psychologist because everybody talks about the UFC jitters and all that stuff, but I'm going to make sure I never experience that.

"I respond well to the spotlight. I respond well to the moment; I don't fold under that--I step up for that. My last fight brought out how well I felt and it's given me great confidence."

Over the last two weeks, Punk has continued to receive criticism from all quarters following the release of some early sparring footage from his first few months of training. Gall thinks Punk has made improvements since then, but expects to draw out his bad habits on fight night.

"I see a lot of that [people treating Punk like a joke], but I'm not making that mistake. You see that clunky footage of him on the show from over a year ago. There's no way this guy beats me; I'll beat him 100 percent. I move differently than him. I'm very confident going into this fight. Not too confident, and I'm training hard as heck. 

"I would imagine the next two episodes will show more recent footage," Punk said. "I'm sure he's improved tremendously since then--he better have, or he's dead. I'm sure he's improved, but I still think that when we are in the fight and we get into and I'm hitting him and he's in the shit, I still think those bad, clunky habits will come out, and I will be able expose that."

While Gall is dead-set on making Punk's debut miserable, he continually emphasized his respect for the former WWE star. Unfortunately for Punk, Gall also said respect will not stop him from doing whatever is necessary to pick up the win at UFC 203.

"I have total respect for him and what's he accomplished," Gall said. "He made himself a superstar in his field and in his sport. I respect his talent and his greatness, but now, this is a different world. It's for real. It's ballsy to come in and fight at this level--it's ballsy to fight me. I absolutely respect it, but it's a different world.

"Every time he's been in a ring in front of a bunch of people, it's choreographed, and it's a predetermined outcome. This is me standing across from him, and within the ruleset, trying to kill him."