Brock Lesnar and CM Punk both come from a wrestling background, so perhaps it's no coincidence that the early betting odds for their respective fights are not in their favor.
Lesnar will fight in the Octagon for the first time in 2011, while CM Punk will be making his UFC debut. "The Beast" will battle Mark Hunt at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas, while the "Best in the World" goes up against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 on Sept. 10 in Cleveland.
In the early betting odds for both bouts, Hunt (-160) enters as the favorite over Lesnar (+140), while Punk (+240) is the underdog in his fight against Gall (-300), according to 5Dimes.
Lesnar, a former UFC heavyweight champion, hasn't had a fight since 2011 because he retired after a bout with diverticulitis. Lesnar returned to the WWE in 2012 and has been a part-time performer in Vince McMahon's organization since then.
The wrestler and UFC fighter first rose to prominence in wrestling when he burst on the scene in 2002 before retiring temporarily in 2004.
"The Beast" has had a long layoff and has been wrestling for the last four years, so it's understandable why he's the underdog against Hunt, who owns a 12-10-1 record. Hunt recently ripped on Lesnar and his wrestling background.
"I'll knock his face off. I knock his mouth off and then his lips fly off. If he has an itch to scratch I will scratch it for him," Hunt told Leigh Roberts of MarkHunt.tv. "I ain't no part-time fighter. He thinks this is a game where he can come back and forth. I will send this pretender back so he can play house with the other part-timers. This realm is for the real fighters, not these damn pretenders. Don't confuse wrestling with real fighting. I'm going to give it to him."
Gall, meanwhile, is just 2-0 in the Octagon, but since Punk hasn't had an MMA fight in his life, it also makes sense that he's not favored entering his debut fight.
Punk wrestled for most of his life until he decided to walk out on the WWE in January 2014. He then signed with the UFC in December 2014, but has had myriad setbacks, which most recently includes back surgery.
Much like Hunt, Gall took a shot at Punk's background when compared to the UFC.
"I think wrestling is entertaining," Gall told The Fan Garage. "I used to be a big fan of it when I was a kid. They do some cool stuff but I think it does not even compare to MMA. MMA is real, that stuff [wrestling], the falls and slams are real but it's all fake, it's all pretended, it's like athletic acting."
Gall and Hunt are favorites and they'll get a chance to backup their words in the coming months.
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