Ladies and gentlemen, the moment we have all been waiting for is finally here. After a long wait of almost a year and a half, CM Punk has finally set foot into the octagon. The whole pro wrestling community and the MMA fraternity waited with held breath as CM Punk made his way to the octagon. Is this the moment we see CM Punk silence all of his critics with his in ring work? Or will he be another failed pro wrestler trying to make it big in the octagon?
At the weigh in session, a lot was said about Punk, that he looked in the best shape and was healthier than ever. He did not return Mickey Gall’s complimentary hand shake. Punk was not only fighting for himself, but was trying to prove a point.
From the opening bell, Punk was in trouble, with inexperience in the octagon showing clearly. He was in a different world, where hitting suplexes, dropping pipe bombs don’t win matches. Gall grabbed Punk’s legs from the moment go and did not let go, while utilizing Punk’s back and making the best use of impressive ground and pound. And then, Punk just could not take any more. Within 2 minutes and 14 seconds, Punk submitted. Gall won the match in record time.
Despite the poor showing, Punk remained upbeat. He sent out a tweet saying, ‘You either go hard or go home’ after his match. At the post match interview, Punk said that Gall is a hell of a fighter, and life is full of doubters. But life is all about falling down and getting up, it’s not about the times one gets knocked down, but the times that one gets back up that matter. He added that we should believe in ourselves, even though sometimes the outcomes are not as planned.
It is easy to take shots at Punk. He does not shy away from admitting that he was outmatched in every way. He added that he is beating himself up more than he got beat.
He added that his debut with the UFC had to be at the lowest level and that when UFC had presented an opportunity, he would have been a fool to say no.
Even the beast incarnate, Brock Lesnar who the Ohio Sanctioning body used as an example as to why they allow this fight to take place in the first place, started a lower level, before rising to sthe top and conquering the world title.
One cannot help but have immense respect for Punk. At 37 years old, there might be a handful of people who would take a shot as Punk did. He put all his energy into it, made sure that he gave it his absolute best. He believes in being nothing but the absolute best at everything he does. Period. He would be one of the few pro wrestling stars to have done things on his terms and firmly believes in doing things that people say he cannot do.
The majority of the wrestling fraternity did not have anything but respect for what CM Punk did. It may have been his nagging injuries from a tiring pro wrestling schedule, inexperience with the octagon or just a case of being unprepared and strategy going wrong. Punk now needs to go back to the drawing board, and it definitely will take a lot of improvement for him to get to the level he and the fans like us want to see him at.
Most of the pro wrestling stars, most notably the Iron Sheik, famous for speaking his mind unabashedly had nothing but respect for Punk. The MMA pros too had nothing but respect for Punk’s work in the ring and commended his guts and courage to step into a whole new world, at his age.
Personally, we have known CM Punk to be one of the best technical wrestlers on the pro wrestling map. We have always known him to come back stronger than ever after falling down. We wish CM Punk the best and can’t wait for the best in the world to come back stronger than ever. Much respect, Punk!
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