UFC 203: Miocic vs Overeem / CM Punk's debut

[d-d-d-dAz]

It was on last night in the UK, sitting in my planner for me to watch.

 

Half way through, I've still seen nothing to suggest that he isn't going to get dead quickly.

 

Good googly moogly, that GIF of him throwing punches that was roundly mocked is from 7 months in and was hailed as his 'best yet'. Oh Christ.

 

7 months? 7 months at Roufus, every day. And that's what he's got?

 

Fair fucks to him, but I'm seriously concerned he shouldn't even be allowed to fight Mickey Gall.

[ElCece]

He's gotten alot of Gall agreeing to fight Micky

[Slapnut]

It was on last night in the UK, sitting in my planner for me to watch.

 

Half way through, I've still seen nothing to suggest that he isn't going to get dead quickly.

 

Good googly moogly, that GIF of him throwing punches that was roundly mocked is from 7 months in and was hailed as his 'best yet'. Oh Christ.

 

7 months? 7 months at Roufus, every day. And that's what he's got?

 

Fair fucks to him, but I'm seriously concerned he shouldn't even be allowed to fight Mickey Gall.

 

I mean, yeah, 7 months in, but isn't that still about a year ago?

 

He's bound to have improved. They wouldn't put him on the card if he was still shite, would they?

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

 

Maybe there cashing out on him?

 

He may have reached a point whereby he's reached the level he's gonna get and they want a return on there investment!

 

He's going in with a guy 2-0 not 15-4 so from that perspective it doesn't look like a major mismatch on paper (not like they're throwing him in with Anderson Silva)

 

The guy has balls I'll give him that however I'll be shocked if he doesn't get toasted quick!

[Philjax]

Having watched episode 2 surely this masterstroke of a tv show will have most people rooting for him by the end of episode 4. Unless you're just pre-determined to hate Punk. He's come off very well. Of course he's still getting his ass kicked in his 3rd sparring session in 7 months. Seems like he's mainly worked on takedown defence which is probably the best idea because Gall should absolutely look to take him down and submit quickly if he doesn't want to be the laughing stock who got taken out with a surprise uppercut by the fake fighter.

 

I'm fully behind him. If anything he's made me realise at 35 it's not too late for me to hit the gym and fullfil my dream of becoming a UFC champion. Hahahaha hell no. I'm a physical wreck! So is he, but best of luck.....

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

 

I'd agree Phil, actually liking the bloke, which I Neva did in his wrestling career

[ColinBollocks]

Turns out, becoming a good fighter is well hard. The actual pace Punk is improving at is no surprise, when you think about all the bad news that's come out about his training. Although, granted, "7 months!" did pop into my head initially.

 

I went into this not really hating or liking Punk as a person, but he doesn't seem so bad.

[Guy Bifkin]

Not a fan of this documentary at all. It comes across as powder piece reality TV 101. 

[wandshogun09]

I don't really like him. I haven't watched any of the documentary yet, I'm probably going to wait until the 4 air and watch them all. But I've always kind of had the impression he's a right cock, rightly or wrongly. I haven't followed wrestling as closely as most on here over the last 10 years so I'm not as up on Punk as most but most things I've read and seen of him just left me thinking he's a knob. He might be coming across well in this doc but that'll be the aim, to show him in a good light, surely? I can't see it swaying my opinion, to be honest. But I'm open to being swayed. I respect what he's doing, of course. Anyone going in to MMA has some balls on them, to do it at 37 with no experience and a laundry list of injuries is extra ballsy. Fair play. Still a knob though. You don't unknob yourself because you're having a go at something difficult.

 

All that said, I don't have any desire to see him get fucked up here. I think he will but I hope he's at least competitive. What no-ones really talking about as well, let's talk crazy for a second but...what happens if Punk wins? Do we think this is a one and done thing, win of lose? Or does he fight again if he wins? And in that scenario, who the fuck do you match him with a second time out? People would probably be calling for a modest step up but you'd have to find another novice really. I just don't know what the end game is here? If it's a one time fight thing, fair enough. But I really don't see the point in multiple fights for Punk. He's never going to be fighting for titles. Ever. He's 37 and just learning how to throw a jab without flopping his arm about like a flaccid dick. At the rate he's going he'd be about 116 by the time he'd be ready for a top 20 ranked opponent. He's probably never going above Mickey Gall level, even if he wins.

 

Punk's welterweight, right? I've got a feeling that the UFC's ideal scenario here is to eventually do Punk vs Sage Northcutt. It's not likely to happen, obviously. Sage would obliterate Punk and I can't see Punk even winning fights or improving to the point that that fight's even feasible. But I bet that's the UFC ideal road for Punk. Win a few fights, get murdered by Super Sage on the PPV main card of a big McGregor show or something, then retire/go into commentating/back to WWE, whatever. It's a pipe dream but that's probably the absolute best case scenario. Not gonna happen. Even if they tried to build Punk up with tomato can opponents (which Gall definitely doesn't appear to be), I wouldn't be confident the Tin Can Man wouldn't beat him as well.

[jimufctna24]

I really liked Punk as a wrestler up until 2011, when I packed in watching. However, I went right off him after listening to that interview he did with Colt Cabana. He came across terribly - even when it appeared he might have had a point. He overstated his own worth as a performer to almost comical levels. 

 

I'm still looking forward to UFC 203 though. 

[WyattSheepMask]

If, and it's a big if, Punk wins then I'm sure he will fight again as the UFC will no doubt want to make every penny they can from him. If Punk hadn't been a WWE star, this fight T have gone above Facebook prelim level of exposure nevermind being marketed as the sub-main event. The UFC will know that there will be a certain number of PPV buys coming from wrestling fans just to see this fight. That might not be a huge number, but they know that it will be a certain percentage and will no doubt hope that that same number will buy again for another fight down the line.

 

Of course it all depends on how Punk comes out of the fight at the end.

The one thing that I'm sure we're all hopeful of is that he puts in more of an effort than Jsmes Toney did

[wandshogun09]

Toney was fucked, wasn't he? He genuinely believed that he could go in there with just his boxing and his 'side check kicks' and wreck shop against grapplers in the UFC. He should've phoned Art Jimmerson to see how that pans out. He was so overconfident going in, completely dismissive of what it takes to compete at a high level in MMA and the UFC gave him a nightmare matchup in Randy Couture, but one that the boxing world couldn't really criticise them for because Couture was at least old as fuck. Wasn't like they fed him to a young monster like Cain or something.

 

I still love the Couture vs Toney bit of the Countdown show they did for that PPV. Watching Toney's 'grappling training' was hilarious. As was his one coach acting like he had that MMA shit down with just a few training sessions.

 

On a serious note though, Toney got fucked up quick and he was a legit fighter. Sure not in MMA but he was absolutely one of the best boxers in the world at one time. If it wasn't for Roy Jones he's arguably have been the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world in the mid 90s. And he was like a fish out of water. I fear for Punk's health. Granted, Punk's not fighting a UFC legend and former 2 weight champion, but he's still greener than the shit Nick Diaz smokes.

[ElCece]

Whats most worrying about Punk is he doesn't seem to much of an athlete either so he doesn't even have that going for him. I would absolutely love for him to win but I really can't see it.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I don't think Toney thought for a minute he would win. I don't think he gave a fuck. He is shot, fat and punchy but he is still a sly old dog who spotted an easy payday and the UFC coughed it up.

 

I'm starting to think the worst case scenario for the UFC might happen with Punk/Gall. Punk gets taken down easilly but has learned enough to survive and on their feet he is tentative and runs offering little to no offense. Gall wins a unanimous decision after a boring, awful, very amateurish fight. The live crowd spend most of the fight booing. The hardcore MMA fans who wanted Punk's head taken of his shoulders hate the fight. Hardcore wrestling fans arn't impressed. Then Punk retires. Everyone wonders wtf was the point in all that other than an ego trip for Punk.

[GlennCullen]

Have they disclosed how much Punk is going to earn to show/win? Does he have points? Look forward to seeing the green eyed backlash from fighters on Twitter, will be even worse than Super Sage.