Opinion – Another UFC fight for CM Punk makes sense

UFC 203 is done and over with, and while there was plenty of strange items to take away from the event, the biggest questions continue to surround one man: CM Punk.

Prior to the event, there was an increasing degree of anticipation for his debut, as well as a fair degree of questions regarding what would happen when it was over. As previously noted, the time between the announcement of Punk’s signing and the fight itself was enough to take some luster off the event and possibly lower previous buyrate expectations.

So, we all saw how it went down. Punk did not even accomplish the feat of landing a single strike during the course of the contest. He demonstrated way better submission defense than he did on the documentary that aired in the lead-up to his fight, yet it was all for naught against an aggressive brown belt with clean technique that trains with high-level grapplers. Punk did not even survive a single round against a fighter that under ordinary circumstances wouldn’t even be in the UFC — this is despite his promise and skill level — were it not for the fortuitous visit to a regional show by UFC personnel, as well as his timely call out to seize the opportunity.

Yet the one undeniable fact here is that Punk drew eyeballs to this event. Eyeballs that had to pay to get in and boost PPV sales.

Whether it was genuine interest or morbid curiosity with an expectation of a bizarre spectacle, people watched. Early estimates of this event have even placed it well over the 600,000 buyrate mark – a number we can safely assume the event may not have reached on its own despite being action heavy with various familiar faces to fans, as well as a few former champions competing on the same card.

UFC 203 will likely have the most PPV buys by a card w/o McGregor, Rousey or Lesnar since UFC 183. Maybe since UFC 182.

— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) September 11, 2016

Now, this isn’t to say that Punk was the only factor at play. A world heavyweight title fight was also on the card, and promotion for the event was pretty strong compared to some other PPV outings. Still, Punk’s inclusion on the card seems to be the most obvious primary booster of sales for this event.

If this holds true and the final numbers really are that good, then the gamble has paid off for the UFC from a financial perspective. In fact, his disclosed fight purse of $500,000 (and the possibility of additional PPV points) could be argued to be something of a bargain if the UFC made a substantial profit from it all.

From a pure sporting perspective, this fight should not even have happened. Gall’s combined five fights (all wins, four finishes) got him the experience necessary to take on Punk, and there was very little chance (barring some sort of unforeseen circumstances) that Punk could have got the win here. The UFC keeps the aura of legitimacy, demonstrating that it’s not just anyone that can come in and take a fight to win against a well-trained opponent.

Punk’s opponent? He comes out smelling like roses. After an injury sidelined Punk and postponed their fight, Gall had the opportunity to at least expand his record and get a win over Mike Jackson, giving the world a taste of what he could do. He won the fight convincingly and looked good doing it – plus had the benefit of having the UFC make him out to be the true stiff test that he was for someone that had …

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