Saturday night former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and master of fake (excuse me, predetermined) wrestling CM Punk made his debut in the very real world of the UFC. Unsurprisingly, he tapped out to 24 year old Mickey Gall very quickly, and quite frankly got his ass kicked. But for Punk, and many other UFC fighters and wrestlers, it's about the fact that he made it there.
Punk's very public falling out with WWE happened in 2014 and some months after it was announced that he had signed a contract with the UFC and would someday step in the octagon. It took two years of training and injuries but he did step in the octagon, something which many people never him expected to do.
When it was first announced that then 35 year old Punk would switch to MMA, there was a lot of skepticism, and flat out anger. UFC is considered the pinnacle of the MMA world, just like WWE is the top of the pro wrestling world. Most people don't just get to jump into the UFC for the first fight of their career. You have to work your way up. So for the other fighters that did work their way through other MMA promotions to get to the UFC, CM Punk's leapfrogging of that seemed to be a bit insulting. Who was this fake wrestler who just gets to enter their world, seemingly on a whim? To them it was a stunt. A money grab. And given that UFC seems to cultivate brash personalities, they were not quiet about it.
But then Punk started training. He moved from Chicago to Milwaukee to train with Duke Roufus at Roufusport, a highly respected, world class Mixed Martial Arts training academy. So what? All that means is that he follows MMA enough to know who's a good trainer and who isn't.
Even some other fighters being trained at Roufusport were angry with Punk for being allowed to fight in the UFC right away. His teammate Ben Askren, a former champion in Bellator and ONE (other MMA promotions) was not signed to a UFC contract because he lacked enough experience. He took to Twitter when Punk first signed and said "@ufc sign a fake wrestler, but not an Olympian who is the best WW in the world. Amateur move." and then followed that up with "All you dummies believed @danawhite when he said I need more experience. Then he signs a 0-0 fake wrestler. LOL on you."
He sent those tweets out in December 2014, just after Punk had signed.
By February 2015, he had totally changed his opinion on Punk saying "He's been outstanding in the gym. He's been in there every day. It's not like he came in here and said, 'I'm a superstar, I'm going to get preferential treatment.' He just acts like one of the guys, just working out. It's outstanding."
Punk was taking private lessons every day, along with classes. And through his hard work, people begin to realize that this wasn't just some stunt, or as it's called in the wrestling world, a work. He was doing this for real.
By the time he had made it to UFC 203, he turned around most of his critics. People knew that he had worked as hard as anyone else since he had started and that he was taking this as seriously as he possibly could. You could tell that just by looking at him. In 2014 the WWE listed punk at 218 pounds. When he stepped into the octagon he was down to 170.
He dedicated the past two years of his life to being able to get into the Octagon and prove himself. And based on Punk's personality, he only wanted to prove himself to other MMA fighters, not people who sit behind a keyboard. And based most of the reactions online, he did just that. Fighters were impressed that he was stepped into the cage at all. And while Gall was in control the entire time. Punk hung in for as long as he could.
Gall pounded his head repeatedly, Punk didn't tap. Gall put him in a rear naked choke, at which point one of the announcers said it was over. Punk slipped out of it, much to that announcers surprised. Gall was able to lock in the submission in again, and forced Punk to tap out.
He displayed enough ability to make people think that if he had trained for this his whole life and not switched over in his mid to late 30's he could have been something.
Other MMA fighters were impressed as well. Conor MacGregor, one of the biggest names in MMA, said that he respected Punk for getting in the octagon and fighting, and continued his verbal assault on the WWE saying that "those WWE guys are straight p***ies... But he isn’t."
Some of the other fighters who gave their respect to CM Punk include, Daniel Cormier Rashad Evans, Eddie Alvarez and Chito Vera.
He said after the fight that this was the most fun he's ever had, and that second greatest night of his life, other than his wedding night. He said he'd be back, although Dana White, UFC President, would say that it might not be with the UFC.
Punk earned the respect of MMA fighters, and that's all he wanted.
