Fortunes changed for five at UFC 203

Even with the heavyweight championship at stake, most of the hype as well as interest in UFC 203, came from the unique story of former pro wrestling superstar C.M. Punk making his UFC debut.The story told is that this was a major star making millions who left his former business because he wanted to try MMA. Unlike pro wrestlers who went into MMA with major fanfare like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley, Punk had no pedigree as an amateur wrestling champion, or any athletic credentials to speak of. He never played sports in high school. He had taken a few martial arts classes as a kid an trained at times with Rener Gracie in Jiu Jitsu. After nearly two years of training, broken up by both shoulder and back surgeries, he went into the UFC cage, and reality struck.Two years of extreme dedication, training at a good gym and having mental toughness wasn’t enough to overcome starting out training for the sport at 36 and debuting just before his 38th birthday. He moved to Milwaukee, did two-a-days, earned the respect of the real fighters in his gym, and battled through the wear-and-tear of the 200-matches per year and intense travel schedule in pro wrestling had take out of his body. Punk had considered strongly making the move in 2011, but he had his best years with the WWE after making the decision to sign one more three-year-contract. Because of how successfully he was financially, which allowed him to dedicate himself to MMA at the level he did, he came short of saying he wished he’d have made the move in 2011.In an article he penned before the fight in The Players Tribune, Punk was succinct in why he was doing MMA.”My reasons for pursuing MMA were simple. First off, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. More important, it makes me happy.”When Punk walked to the ring, the common belief was he was walking towards a physical execution, similar to when Nobuhiko Takada, a huge star from the pro wrestling world, took a major payday in 1997 and knew reality would strike his tough-guy aura dead as he stepped into the ring with Rickson Gracie at the Tokyo Dome.But there was a huge difference. Takada looked like a going to the gallows. Punk had a big smile on his face. Even after losing, he called it the second greatest day of his life, trailing only his wedding day, which is not what most fighters say after losing badly in their UFC debut.A lot of questions have been raised in hindsight. Should UFC have signed Punk in the first place? Should Ohio have allowed the fight? Should they have picked Mickey Gall as his opponent? Should they have put a stop to it themselves when the word was out that Punk, while having a great attitude, was struggling in training?All of these can be debated. It happened and the fight went largely as most expected.The untold story of the fight was the decision to put Gall as the opponent. Under normal circumstances, when somebody with a name comes into a fight sport, whether they be an actor or celebrity or star from another sport, promoters will try to find an opponent they could most likely beat. There are exceptions, such as in Japan, where a hyped newcomer losing ones first fight to a name opponent is considered part of the process.The UFC took a different tact. In picking Gall, it was clear they were trying to create a win/win. If Punk would have won, they were fine, as he’d fight again. If he didn’t win, they had someone who they could follow-up with. Gall took every advantage of his lottery ticket when it came to marketing. He was put in the spotlight, and in the buildup, came out of it with more name recognition than most fighters on the roster today. The jury is out on whether he’ll become a good fighter, as wins over Mike Jackson and Punk really give any insight as to what level of fighter he is, or what potential he’ll have. Plus, a 24-year-old formerly unknown rookie fighter thrust into the …

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