Mixed martial arts, with its complex blend of skills, is an incredibly difficult discipline to master. If anyone should feel buoyed by that, it’s CM Punk the former WWE wrestler who made the walk to the Octagon for the first time on Saturday night in Cleveland, against Mickey Gall. It takes time to get ready for MMA, and it’s unfair to expect more of Punk, whose real name is the rather less exotic Phil Brooks, as he fought for the first time as a pro or amateur.
The match, one of the undercards during’s Saturday’s UFC 203, was the latest episode in a long history tying pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. Known as shooters, these type of pro wrestlers can legitimately fight. Japan’s Kazushi Sakuraba, who beat the great UFC champion Royce Gracie in 2000, was perhaps the most successful modern version.
It wasn’t clear coming in if Brooks would be in the mold of wrestlers who knew how to shoot, or wrestlers who didn’t. He said he was aware of the history he was stepping into but didn’t want to say how he thought he stacked up in the tradition of wrestling tough guys like Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson.
But Brooks, 37, was confident. Unfortunately, the big dreams he spoke of during a two-year odyssey from wrestling to MMA were broken when Gall, a 24-year-old welterweight prospect with a strong grappling game and a beaming smile, beat him in the opening round.
On the advice of his trainer, Milwaukee’s Duke Roufus, the former WWE champion charged out of his corner, throwing a wild right that gave Gall, now unbeaten in his first three fights, the opening for an easy double-leg takedown. In a matter of moments, he had capitalized on Brooks’s inexperience by smoothly securing back-control. By the time Gall had finished with him, Brooks was cut over his right eye, lumped up around his face and his right ear was swollen. The worst part of the experience wasn’t that Brooks didn’t win. It was that he never looked competitive.
However, if he was disappointed after the defeat, Brooks didn’t show it. “In life you go big or you go home,” he said. “I just like to take challenges. This was a hell of a mountain to try to climb. I didn’t get to the top tonight. That doesn’t mean I’m going give up or stop. Obviously Mickey’s a hell of a fighter. I will be back believe it or not. This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. Second best night in my life other than marrying my wife. I know there’s a lot of doubters. Life’s about falling down and getting back up.
Gall made the most of the moment, asserting that he planned on making a mark in the UFC. “I’m no gimmick,” Gall said before calling out another UFC prospect, Sage Northcutt.
Although Brooks’s UFC debut has attracted a lot of attention, it was not the night’s main event. The home crowd in Cleveland was out to support one of its own, Stipe Miocic, who stepped into a rabid Quicken Loans Arena laying claim to the title of baddest man on the planet. There’s no question that the UFC heavyweight champion needs to be looked at this way, and the adoration from Miocic’s hometown, buoyed by the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA title in June, reflected that.
He gave Cleveland a rollercoaster ride of a title defense against Dutchman Alistair Overeem, Miocic’s first since winning the belt in a very different setting against Fabricio Werdum in May. Back then, a first round knockout in front of 45,000 Brazilians put Miocic in the position to make his first defense at home.
On Saturday, the imposing fighters, each standing 6ft 4in and weighing close to 250lbs, touched gloves in the center of the Octagon. They were pleasant right before they weren’t. The whole thing drove Cleveland wild.
After stalking Overeem for the first minute, teasing the crowd with the moment they showed up for, it looked like Miocic wouldn’t come through on home soil, when a sneaky left straight from Overeem put him on the canvas. “He put me on my ass, didn’t he?” Miocic said after the fight. “I wasn’t hurt but he put me on my ass.”
Miocic (16-2) kept his wits and immediately needed to defend a guillotine choke, which he did. Overeem claimed afterwards that he thought Miocic had tapped out to escape the choke. Replays showed otherwise. Still, it was hard to believe the champion survived. But there he was, a paramedic services worker from a suburb 20 miles east of Cleveland, taking Overeem’s best and giving it back way worse.
The home fans had helped bring in a gate of $2.6m and as the fight progressed it became clear it had been worth every penny. Recovered from his shaky start, and making the most of his athleticism and movement, Miocic piled on the punches, before a scramble brought the back-and-forth action to the floor. In the guard, Miocic went to work peppering Overeem about his head. Ground-and-pound was invented by another UFC heavyweight champion from Ohio, Mark Coleman, and Miocic made the most of his example as “The Hammer” watched from cage-side.
After getting back to his feet, Miocic scored repeatedly until the first of four straight right hands crushed his challenger. It only took one to render Overeem unconscious, but referee Marc Goddard didn’t jump in until another three had landed. “He’s a tough guy,” Miocic said. “A veteran who fought the best in the world. But I said .... I want to be keep [the title] here for a long time.”
The co-headlining fight featured an odd series of events as Fabricio Werdum asserted his claim to a rematch with Miocic, walking through a fairly easy decision over Travis Browne, a late replacement for Ben Rothwell. Referee Gary Copeland incorrectly paused the action in round one when a Werdum punch injured Browne’s hand.
Werdum was aggressive after being put down by Miocic in the spring. He started the fight with a jumping side kick and mixed up his attacks enough to stifle Browne, who heard it from his coach Edmond Taverdyan, who has also worked with Ronda Rousey. Taverdyan lost his voice yelling for Browne to attack, imploring him between rounds to give everything he had. Browne didn’t muster much in response until the final 90 seconds, though by then it was far too late.
As the scores were read Werdum and Taverdyan mixed it up, the former heavyweight champion going so far as to kick at the much smaller Armenian. The sides were separated, and Werdum had a chance to watch the main event. He picked Miocic to retain the title, hoping for a chance at redemption. He saw Miocic produce the kind of performance he and his hometown can be proud of. One they won’t soon forget. “The last four months have been crazy in my life,” Miocic said. “I was training very, very hard for this fight.”
