UFC 203: Is CM Punk any good?
Had CM Punk said that his dream was to skate on a line alongside Jonathan Toews, his beloved Chicago Blackhawks would have quickly said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
And if he couldn’t run fast enough, no amount of cajoling would have gotten him a spot in the Olympic 100-meter finals for the chance to race against the great Usain Bolt.
But this is mixed martial arts where things are, well, different.
So on Saturday, when the former WWE champion steps into the ring to face Mickey Gall in his MMA debut on the main card of UFC 203 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, this will be more proof of that.
It’s no joke, though, to Punk, who is serious about fighting and doesn’t see his match with Gall as a one-off.
Punk, whose birth name is Phil Brooks, began this odd journey in late 2014 at UFC 181, when he said he’d always longed to compete as a mixed martial artist. UFC president Dana White agreed to give him a chance.
About 21 months later, time for that chance has arrived. And no one truly has an idea of what to expect.
Gall himself is a rookie, who has only one UFC fight, a win over an even-lesser experienced Mike Jackson, and yet here he is in the spotlight.
His fight is third from the top, behind only the heavyweight title fight between Stipe Miocic and challenger Alistair Overeem, and the heavyweight rematch between ex-champion Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne.
Gall is in an incredibly high-profile slot on the card even though only odd circumstances led him there.
He, more than anyone, has a vested interest in how Punk will fare. And though the only footage that exists of Punk has come from a documentary series on Fox Sports 1 that supposedly was shot when Punk was recovering from an injury, Gall has willingly offered his opinion.
“I’m not particularly impressed, just different things, the way he moves,” Gall said. “I’m sure he’s improved tremendously since that footage but I know when he gets to the fight, we get into [it], those bad habits tend to come out and I know I’ll be able to expose those.”
Bookmakers agree, which is why Gall is roughly a 5-1 favorite, depending upon where you look.
Other than the fact that Punk was a FOD – Friend of Dana – which got him the shot on the card in the first place, his best attribute is clearly his promotional ability. Punk was a huge draw in the WWE and has been in demand with MMA media since the day of his announcement.
But Punk has been strangely quiet, and not all that willing to talk about pro wrestling. His biggest attribute to the card is to bring pro wrestling fans in who might otherwise pass this show, but he’s been reluctant to do that.
His bent has been to discuss his fight as any other MMA fighter would discuss his, and not in any sense as a sideshow or as a ticket-selling attraction.
“People either love me or hate me already,” Punk said. “I’m not trying to talk anybody into the building on this one. I think the allure is just the fact that it’s happening. The story writes itself. It’s not a fabricated thing where I need to create some drama between me and Mickey. We’re going to fight. That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t need to be a weird, verbal pissing contest.”
Punk is 37 years old and though by hiring Duke Roufus to coach him he landed one of the brightest minds and best coaches in MMA, win or lose he’s probably not going to look like some young, dynamic prospect.
Most likely, he’s going to look like a 37-year-old guy in his first professional MMA fight.
He’s financially well off, which afforded him better coaching and training than others in his boat, so he’s probably going to look better than those first-time MMAers you might see on YouTube.
He’s not giving much away, but he insists he believes in himself.
“I see my hand getting raised and I’m not really one for making predictions,” Punk said. “I definitely see myself winning, and if I had to pick, I’d pick TKO. I want to show out. I want to show up. I want to beat Mickey. I don’t really give a [expletive] how I do it. ”
Fans, though, have the right to expect at least some level of ability, given he’s competing in the major leagues of MMA.
Even Brock Lesnar, the former WWE heavyweight champion who entered the UFC for the first time in 2008, had a fight outside the UFC before White signed him. Plus, Lesnar was an All-America collegiate wrestler at Minnesota.
Punk has none of that going for him. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing he was given a shot – sports are meant to be entertaining – but it’s also important not to make a mockery of the sport.
He’s been mocked by some who saw his training footage on the series on FS1, but he insists he’s not that man any more.
“It’s a correct depiction of where I was at when it was shot, three back surgeries, walking round with a herniated disk, 15 percent power in my left leg,” Punk said of the show. “It’d be like me watching one of Mickey’s fights and expecting to fight that guy. Mickey trains his ass off and he trains with a good team. He’s not going to be the same guy he was in his last fight, just like I’m not going to be the same guy you saw on the television show.”
This is just a guess, but given the type of coach that Roufus is and given that Punk is an intelligent man, he’s going to be better than most people think.
That doesn’t mean he’s going to win, necessarily, because there are so many unknowns.
He’s putting himself out there for ridicule, and he comes across as a prideful guy who wouldn’t do this if he didn’t believe he could at least reach a certain standard of professionalism on fight night.
He’s trained for the better part of two years to prepare for this night, minus the time he’s needed to recover from shoulder and back injuries.
He’s trained with an elite coach and high-level teammates. He has the resources to get himself into top shape and had the relationship with White to take the fight at the time he felt he was most ready.
So he’s probably not going to be flat-out horrible.
Will he be good?
Well, that’s something that no one, not White, not matchmaker Joe Silva, not Roufus and not even Punk himself know for certain.
