5 Things We Learned From UFC 203
1. CM Punk's UFC Dream Has Likely Come To An End
It was the exact result we all expected.
CM Punk stepped inside the octagon to chase a dream and mark an item off his bucket list, and Mickey Gall obliged him by choking him into submission. It was brief, it was conclusive and it was ugly. Only the most delusional of Punk fans and wrestling marks thought the fight would play out any differently than the former WWE star suffering a nasty defeat.
To his credit, Punk took this experience seriously and dedicated two years of his life to making it happen. For a guy who doesn't need the money and has multiple other career options available to him that don't involve being strangled by tougher men over a decade younger, you've got to respect his desire. There were those among the MMA community - Frank Mir being the most recent - who resented the position the pro wrestler with zero fighting experience was placed in, but it's hard to fault a guy for accepting a chance to live out a dream.
That being said, it's painfully obvious that CM Punk has no business competing in the UFC. He's way out of his depth against even the most novice of fighters, considering he was utterly dominated by a guy with only two professional fights who doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page.
In both the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan and the press conference an emotional Punk expressed a desire to continue on this journey and says he wants to fight again. Unfortunately for he and his fans, it doesn't appear that will be in the UFC, at least not for a while. Pro wrestling and MMA analyst John Pollack tweeted out that Dana White told him if CM Punk has another fight "it probably shouldn't be in the UFC."
Sounds like even the boss realizes that this little experiment has ran its course and anything past this point would be diminishing returns. Oh well. At least according to Punk, it was fun while it lasted.
If the UFC does sever ties with CM Punk, don't be surprised if he gets a phone call from Bellator shortly thereafter.
What did you think of UFC 203? Let us know in the comments.