During UFC 203, CM Punk aka Phil Brooks made his UFC octagon debut where he went up against newcomer, Mickey Gall in the welterweight division.
Punk was a clear underdog coming into this fight given his lack of prior MMA experience.
When thinking about it and his journey of leaving the WWE to branch over into the UFC that is a good dream to have and he made that happen for himself either way. He was already signed into the corporation back in 2014 with a (0-0) record but never had a fight until last night in Cleveland.
The decision from Dana White to have him fight so soon is what I am stuck on.
Do I think that CM Punk doesn't deserve to try new things and have new goals? Absolutely not. I think it is rather inspirational of him to do what he did. It showed a lot of tenacity.
Is he unworthy all of the sudden because he is actually following his passion to fight MMA?
Hell no.
My issue is with CM Punk not having enough MMA experience to end up on the main card of a PPV fight. But for him to face a fighter that is a Brown Belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu? Right off the bat, that fight seemed a little unfair. He did an interview with Rolling Stones leading up to this fight and he quotes:
"I think I can do pretty much whatever I want to that guy. I'm bigger and strong and I'm a better version of everything he can do. I can't wait to fight him. I can't wait to put on a display and represent real MMA fighters."
I mean if we are going to rewind a real quick look at Matt "Meathead" Mitrione (9-5), he is an ex-NFL player that got his MMA career started on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. He ended up making it to the finale and defeated Markus "Big Baby" Jones (4-2) with a KO in the second round.
AND THEN he went to fight into the UFC officially.
So I am not saying it is impossible with people without a prior MMA amateur record can't fight with the UFC. I feel there has to be a process to get there and that is train train train. He was doing EVERYTHING right.
Training at one of the BEST gyms in the country, Duke Roufus for one. He did what he had to do in the time he had to do it and tried to get the job done, but it didn't end up working in his favor.
Punk got taken down pretty fast in this fight by Gall and stayed on the ground for the remainder of when the fight was over. The ground and pound were REAL. There were times when I saw Punk get out of some of the headlocks from Gall, but over time it was just too much.
Mickey finally got a very tight grip around that neck where CM Punk was forced to tap out at 2:14 with a rear-naked choke in the first round.
During the post-fight conference it was clear he was sad but the outcome of the fight and I give it to him for still wanting to follow his dreams in MMA. Who knows if it will be with the UFC however, he now has a taste for what is to come if he decides to give it another shot in the future.
I know he is 37 years of age and no one is getting any younger around here but hey just look at Josh "The Warmaster" Barnett (35-8). He is still CRUSHING it at age 38.
So just think of Aaliyah's song "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" because if you put your mind to it you can really do anything.