Who is Mickey Gall? To many fans he's simply the guy fighting CM Punk -- and the guy just about everyone believes will defeat Punk, a former WWE superstar, in his UFC debut on Saturday.

That's the extent of what most fans know about Gall (2-0), a 24-year-old welterweight, entering UFC 203 this weekend at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Bettors say he's more than a 3-to-1 favorite to beat Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks. Gall says that's about right.

"I think I should I be the favorite," Gall said. "Also, I think he should be getting more of the attention. He is the superstar. But I'm the real-deal fighter. It's great the UFC didn't put him with the green Power Ranger or some schlub."

Whatever the opinion on Brooks as an MMA prospect -- most are bearish on the 37-year-old -- he can't be accused of taking the easy road. Gall has won two pro bouts, both by submission, in a total of 3 minutes, 38 seconds.

The booking opposite Brooks was locked up in February with a win via rear-naked choke in his UFC debut. That one lasted 45 seconds. Gall thinks it'll be much of the same in his third career fight.

"[Brooks] has a 2-year-old [fight] vocabulary; I have an 8-year-old vocabulary," said Gall, who has trained at Gracie New Jersey since he was 16. "I'm going to leave him tongue-tied and twisted. He can't hang with my stuff. I will dominantly and violently take him out. I'll dominate every minute of the fight. And I'll be able to put some beautiful violence on."

That's the widespread assumption of how things will go in Cleveland. While Brooks' willingness to step into the Octagon is admirable, conventional wisdom is he'll be outclassed.

That opinion has only been emboldened by training footage in the UFC's prefight documentary series "The Evolution of Punk," which chronicles Brooks' life both in and out of the gym over the past 20 months.

Brooks' preparation for his debut shows clear growth. But despite training under respected coach Duke Roufus, Brooks' rudimentary striking and white-belt-level jiu-jitsu have most doubting his chances.

That includes his opponent.

"Though I'm sure he has improved tremendously from the footage I'm seeing, I know once he gets in the fight those bad habits are going to come out," Gall said. "I'm going to be able to expose those and do some serious damage to him. ... I think my skills are going to be too much for him to hang five full minutes with me.

"I'll probably hit him with something hard in the first round -- either drop him or put him out. If he stays awake and conscious, I'll probably pound him out or grab a submission."

The media microscope on this fight is focused far more intently than your run-of-the-mill match of fighters with two combined bouts between them. That's the reality when one of the WWE's brightest superstars elects to turn from MMA hobbyist to UFC debutant.

If not for landing the fight -- and a three-month delay when a herniated disk in Brooks' back required surgery -- Gall says he'd have two more bouts under his belt at this point. But he wouldn't have the attention and opportunity that goes with a high-profile fight such as this.

"It was a smart move for me to wait," Gall said. "There's a reason they call this a money fight. There's a reason they say I got a lotto ticket. It's going to give me a lot of exposure. It's really going to help my MMA career flourish."

So the most pertinent question to be answered Saturday -- beyond whether Punk demonstrates he's long for the Octagon -- is what's next for Gall. He's the one far more likely to still be doing this as a profession in five years.

While his pedigree and results show promise, the in-cage sample size is small. Anything other than a demolition of Brooks, a respectable athlete who's accustomed to the spotlight, might be considered disappointing for Gall, if not detrimental to his trajectory.

Gall understands the consequence -- and the subsequent risk -- but doesn't show concern.

"I'll tell you my game plan," he said. "I plan on climbing the ranks. After this fight, I'll fight a real, more typical UFC-caliber killer, and I'm going to beat that person.

"My goal is to be a UFC champion. And I'm very confident I will get there."