Former WWE star Phil “CM Punk” Brooks makes his official mixed martial arts debut tonight at UFC 203 in his first ever professional fight live on Pay Per View in Cleveland.
Punk, who weighed in successfully on Friday at 170 pounds on the dot, will take on newcomer Mickey Gall (2-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the third fight of the main card.
We noted yesterday in an article that it didn’t seem many pro wrestling fans were interested in purchasing the fight tonight with Punk stepping away from WWE over two years ago. That shouldn’t prevent wrestling fans from making a pick for the fight with a new poll below.
Former #WWE star CM Punk makes his #UFC debut tonight at #UFC203. Who do you have winning the fight?
— Wrestleview.com (@wrestleview) September 10, 2016
UFC has followed Punk all week as part of the “Embedded” series and have added the latest episode where Punk takes a tour of the room inside the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland back in 2014 where he made the decision to leave WWE adding, “This is the room I told Vince I was going home in.” (1:37 of the video below)
The Players Tribune is also featuring an article penned by Punk himself looking at his mixed martial arts debut and why he doesn’t miss the world of pro wrestling.
“The truth is I don’t miss being CM Punk as much as I used to miss being me. For a long time, the demands of my schedule as a professional wrestler forced me to prioritize my job over everything else in my life. My family, my health and my own ambitions had to be placed on the backburner. I gave everything I had to the job. But my time as a professional wrestler didn’t just end — it reached a conclusion. I achieved everything I wanted to in that arena, even beyond what I ever dreamed was possible. I had thought about trying something else for a long time before I actually made the move to MMA. And now that I’ve done it, I know I’ll never look back. Now I’m just a guy living his life, which is something I could never be as CM Punk, WWE star.”
Wrestleview.com will have live coverage of CM Punk’s UFC debut later tonight.