UFC 203: Why CM Punk deserves respect for Stepping into the Octagon

After almost two years filled with rumors and speculations, the much-awaited UFC debut of CM Punk is all set to happen at UFC 203. Punk will be fighting Mickey Gall (1-0 in UFC) in his debut fight and it’s no secret that the former WWE champion heads into this fight as the underdog.

The ‘fake’ outsider

For someone in the MMA business, CM Punk is an outsider. In fact, he is just a guy that comes from the professional wrestling business which often gets tagged as ‘fake’ even though many MMA fighters have mentioned that pro-wrestling is much harder than MMA.

This past is one of the reasons why Punk is the underdog here.

“He (CM Punk) could be a tough guy and I'm sure he is a talented guy but I don't think he could acquire the skills that I have in such a limited time that he had put into it,” Mickey Gall recently told us in an exclusive.

Of course, attaining mad MMA skills in limited time is indeed a big task and Punk, from all the rumors that are going around, is not doing well in his practice sessions as well, but the man deserves credit for stepping in and doing what he feels like.

Punk had his haters right from the moment he left WWE or even before that, to be frank. The reason why he left the Number one professional wrestling promotion in the world (even though it was his dream) was because of the way WWE used him.

The interesting path

He was hands down one of the best wrestlers that WWE had at their disposal in terms of both the microphone skills and in-ring ability, yet, WWE went mostly for star power and gave part-timers like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Batista and many others a better booking. Add that with the way WWE treated Punk’s injuries; he had all the reasons to leave.

Now comes the interesting part: Punk would’ve stayed in the wrestling business and he would’ve still earned the money he earned from WWE through Independent booking but instead, he chose to try something new, something that he had in his mind for quite some time, fighting in UFC. Simply speaking, money was not clearly the biggest motive for Punk.

His decision sparked off tons of debates on the Internet and fan communities. The fans wanted to know how this ‘fake wrestler’ would fare in a ‘real MMA fight’, the MMA fighters out there wanted to put him back in place as he was an ‘outsider’ to them, Dana White wanted a good draw for his pay-per-view and all the mainstream attention surrounding Punk gave him just that.

Stepping into the unknown

Despite all these negatives and hate, Punk thought that this was the right decision for him. To step into unknown territory, to take up a new challenge in his life even though he knows his chances of succeeding are low. And this show is courage is why CM Punk deserves some credit and appreciation.

How many of us go beyond our comfort zone? It is easy to say that you will at this moment but deep inside, we know that it is not an easy decision to make.

Love him or hate him, this courage is what makes Punk worthy of fighting in the octagon, the reason why he deserves respect.

PS: Brock Lesnar was defeated in his first fight in UFC and he then went onto become the Heavyweight Champion there.