The CM Punk Experiment is Over Now, Right?

In the main event of UFC 203 on Saturday night, UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic delivered a championship performance by surviving a hard right hand and a tight guillotine to knock out Alistair Overeem with punches on the ground in the first round to a raucous ovation from the hometown crowd who loves the man that apparently thinks using the bluetooth in your car to hang up on your wife repeatedly is the funniest thing in the world.

Former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum threw a flying kick to Travis Browne’s face within the opening seconds of their co-main event. Then, after beating Ronda Rousey’s babymaker by unanimous decision, he drew universal praise by everyone who ever wished they could kick Edmond Taverdyan by kicking Edmond Taverdyan. What a true trailblazer Vai Cavalo is. Also, RIP Werdum Face.

It was a truly unique show, one where half the card lost by TKO to an elevator, but that’s enough about that. I’m not going to pretend those of you who watched the show did so for the fights. Some of you did, but a lot more of you watched for another reason:

Something something CM Punk.

Yep. It finally happened. The moment we’d all been waiting for, albeit for various different reasons.

Phil Brooks, more commonly known by those “in the know” as CM Punk, completed the journey he began to transition from professional wrestler to professional MMA fighter by stepping in the cage and competing on Saturday night in his debut match.

And it has been quite the journey, one that officially started almost two years ago, one that has seen many bumps along the way…

…there were injuries…

…there were emotional struggles in adapting to one life after spending so long in another…

…there was Larry…

…there were haters…just SOOOO many haters…

That was the main theme of Punk’s journey in the eyes of the two fanbases who followed it for the entirety of its 21 months: MMA fans who felt Punk had no business being anywhere near The Octagon, and pro wrestling fans who supported Punk and wished him the best in pursuing a dream and trying to do something most of us wouldn’t have the testicular fortitude to attempt.

I’ve written about CM Punk in a few columns. I’ve made references to him in a few more columns. It’s mainly because I’m a sad, desperate loser who writes about MMA on a pro wrestling site and knows that certain topics are guaranteed clicks no matter what the actual content of the material is, but it’s also been because, just like all of you, I’ve been curious about Punk’s story and have wanted to see how it would play out.

But, now that it has played out, and it went the way most of us expected, let’s hope that’s the end of this whole “Punk in the UFC” thing.

Now, when I say that, I say it with the utmost respect to Punk. Overall, I like the guy. I enjoyed a lot of his work in the independent wrestling scene, as well as his main event run in WWE, and I think it’s awesome that, in a world where most of us struggle to find one thing we’re passionate enough to pursue professionally, he had two he was able to chase after, being given the chance to work hard and sink or swim on his own merit, even though he had to do it under the world’s largest microscope.

The man faced a massive amount of criticism for entering MMA the way he did, especially at his age and especially with no prior martial arts experience to speak of, and it says even more that the UFC was willing to sign him off nothing more than his name value and a vague determination that he wouldn’t make MMA look like an absolute joke (not that Bellator would have cared…), but, throughout his training and everything else that led up to his fight with Mickey Gall, he showed the sport nothing but respect.

That all being said, if Punk truly respected the sport, he wouldn’t have agreed to a UFC deal.

Not for his pro debut.

He still could have begun his training but he could have waited until he was ready and not when he felt he had to because the entire community was antsy and making mean jokes that he would never actually make it to the cage. Then, he could have taken a fight in a smaller promotion against another fighter with a similar amount of training and experience since, clearly, Mickey Gall was too much for Punk to handle.

It’s not like it would have been hard for him to get a fight in a smaller promotion. He wouldn’t have even needed to do anything but wait by his phone. Part of the reason UFC signed him was to keep everyone else from being able to make a play (I’m looking at you, Scott…).

Dana White said in an interview after the fight that, if Punk fights again, it “…probably shouldn’t be in the UFC.”

Well, no shit it shouldn’t be in the UFC. This first fight shouldn’t have been in the UFC. It’s great that Dana is friends with Punk and was willing to give him a shot but, if he really wanted to help Punk and not just cash in on him before the bottom fell out of this study in wish fulfillment, he would have given Punk Ed Soares’ phone number and helped him get an RFA deal.

That way, Punk could have gotten a nice spotlight on AXS TV in an environment where no one would have cared that he was on the main card competing against another fight newb because that’s what a promotion like that is for.

Punk also would have had Michael Schiavello blowing his commentary load over every punch he attempted to throw or takedown he shot in on, which would have easily made the whole experience worth it.

Also, we know RFA would have been all over signing him because I’m pretty sure the only reason it was founded was so Ed Soares could live out his dream of pretending to be Dana White.

Seriously, Dana. I thought you said you were done with this kind of nonsense after you let James Toney get mauled, and that happened at the hands of a two division legend in Randy Couture. Punk got mauled by a kid who beat up an MMA photographer in his first UFC fight.

The point of all this is to say that it’s great that Punk got to live out his dream and it’s great that he took the steps to make sure he wouldn’t make a complete mockery of the sport along the way, even though many will still argue that he failed in that respect, but he should know damn well that this never should have happened like this. Not in the UFC.

As far as what’s next for Punk, I don’t really care. If he wants to fight again, that’s great. He has every right to, provided he continues to train and finds opponents in organizations that are more comparable to where he’s at. If he wants to fight in the UFC again, he needs to earn it. Even Brock Lesnar had a fight outside the UFC before they were willing to bring him in.

So, Phil, take your time, put the work in, and make your way back.

Either that or go to Japan and build your name up with a steady diet of tomato cans. You know they’ll look out for you over there.

Well, I guess this is it. It’s over. The CM Punk Era ended before it ever began. It’s a little sad but we must move on and we must embrace our new master, Mickey Gall.

All hail Mickey Gall, the true Best in the World.

Well, until he fights someone who can actually fight. Just let me live in the lie until then. Thank you.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.