LAS VEGAS — Somehow, people don’t quite get it. As CM Punk’s UFC debut on Sept. 10 in Cleveland against Mickey Gall nears, so, too, does the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the unfairness of it all.

He doesn’t belong in the UFC, they shriek. He’s getting special treatment because of his famous name, they complain.

Yep.

So what?

Punk, for those who don’t know, is a former professional wrestler whose real name is Phil Brooks. He is a former WWE champion and one of the biggest stars in that company’s recent history.

But as time went on, he became disillusioned by the business and by the management of the WWE. He’d long wanted to be an MMA fighter, and already had a relationship with the owners of the UFC. He asked, they said yes, and so on Sept. 10 he’ll get his wish.

He may get beaten, and beaten badly. Gall is hardly an MMA veteran, but he’s better than a 3-1 favorite at sports books taking wagers on the fight.

But again, so what?

Punk is an intelligent adult. He’s trained for about 18 months for this, which is about 18 months more than most of his critics have trained. He knows full well what he’s getting into.

Those opposed to Punk’s taking a UFC roster spot might have an argument were he taking one from someone else. That, though, is not the case. The UFC does not have a set roster number, and its number of active fighters fluctuates wildly.

But if Punk weren’t on the roster, it’s not like that would guarantee an extra fighter a job.

If Punk weren’t on the roster, Gall probably wouldn’t be, either. He’s certainly no UFC fighter by the traditional standard: He did not dominate a lower-level league and win his way to the major leagues of MMA.

No, he got his spot through the web series, “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight,” which is a gimmick the UFC used to push traffic to its website and market White and the sport. Gall was clever enough to take advantage of the opportunity and put himself into the “Punk Sweepstakes.”

Punk will turn 38 about seven weeks after he fights Gall, so no matter what he might say, he’s not looking at a long run. Even if he shocks everyone and looks outstanding while defeating Gall, think of how long it’s taken him to get his first fight.

He announced his intention to compete in the UFC following UFC 181 on Dec. 6, 2014. By the time he fights, it will have been one year, nine months and five days since his announcement.

He’s had shoulder and back injuries that have pushed back his debut. And guess what? That’s what happens to the vast majority of 38 year olds in a physically grueling and demanding sport like MMA. He’s just beginning and his body is already showing signs of not being able to handle the rigor.

Punk spent roughly 14 years as a professional wrestler, and that probably makes him older than his biological age. While pro wrestling is entertainment and not legitimate sports competition, the wrestlers push their bodies to lengths few can understand.

After enduring many years of 300-plus nights on the road, any potential beating Punk may get from Gall surely won’t seem all that bad.

I’m not all that interested in the Punk-Gall fight, for what it’s worth. There is nothing about the match that would pique my interest outside of the fact that Punk is a former WWE champion, and that would not be enough of a lure to get me to watch.

I never saw Punk wrestle, not once. I pretty much gave up on pro wrestling after that jabroni Hulk Hogan took the WWF title from the legendary Iron Sheik in 1984. (Jan. 23, 1984, remains one of the dark days in sports entertainment history, but I digress).

But my lack of interest in a specific fight doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t get the opportunity.

It’s a freak show match to many, and it’s hard to argue that. When Scott Coker took over Bellator, he used the so-called “freak show” matches to great effect.

The Ken Shamrock-Kimbo Slice fight on Spike did massive numbers. Like Punk, I wasn’t interested in Shamrock-Slice, either. And, to be honest, I was vehemently opposed to it at one point.

Shamrock’s age was a significant reason; he was 51 when he fought Slice and 52 when he faced Royce Gracie in at Bellator 138 and 149, respectively. There was a safety factor there. We saw evidence of that in the Slice-Dada 5000 bout.

In spite of the criticism of those fights, which Coker refers to as “tentpole” fights, he continued to do them. And he made a good point about them in a recent Q&A with Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“Look, 99 percent of the fights we do are for the hardcore fight fans,” Coker told Hill in response to a question about freak show fights. “But if we do a couple fights a year that have a fun element to it or something outside the box, I think that’s OK. We’re bringing in an audience that normally wouldn’t watch any MMA fight.”

That’s primarily the audience the UFC will get for Punk’s fight on pay-per-view at UFC 203. Wrestling fans will almost assuredly purchase this in higher numbers than usual. The UFC has done a multi-part special on Fox Sports 1 trying to hype Punk’s debut.

It’s also likely to draw in the curious.

That will directly financially help the fighters on the show who receive a cut of the pay-per-view revenue. Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who defends his belt against Alistair Overeem in the main event, will benefit from Punk’s popularity.

There is a risk to doing these kinds of fights, of course. It could turn off the fan base and make it less likely to buy.

It’s less of a risk to Bellator, whose shows are on cable TV and not pay-per-view. Coker puts on solid cards with regularity, and if you don’t happen to like one of his tentpole matches, change the channel when it comes on. There is no investment and so it’s easy to do.

The UFC is largely a pay-per-view business and doesn’t want to give its customers a reason to not buy. If Punk loses and is somewhat competitive, he may get another fight. If he loses and not only is blown out, but looks inept, White would probably release him and no longer use him.

There’s a fine line here. Sports are entertainment and entertainment is supposed to be fun. That said, you can’t make a mockery of the very competition you’ve fought for years to legitimize.

One CM Punk fight isn’t going to make a mockery of it, no matter how badly he may perform.

The easiest way to equate Punk’s presence in the UFC is to sponsor’s exemptions on the PGA Tour. At every tour event, the company sponsoring the tournament is given the ability to invite a handful of players at its discretion.

Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour professional debut on a sponsor’s exemption and he won the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational, his first Tour win, on one.

So think of it as Punk getting a sponsor’s exemption into UFC 203. He’s probably not going to win. He may not even look good.

But it’s harming no one (other than, of course, potentially himself) and it’s not like the UFC just invites any jabroni off the street into its league.

Let’s not get caught up in the fairness aspect. Take it for what it is and move on.

He may do like Woods did with his sponsor’s exemption and win. More likely, he’ll do what thousands of others who received a sponsor’s exemption did and, in effect, miss the cut and go quietly into the night.