The fact that you're sitting here talking about CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall instead of 4 time NCAA All-American Cael Strongneck vs. 18x Mundials champion (Brown Belt division) Renato "Pitbull" Nogueria on the prelims of UFC Fight Night 87: Sheboygan tells me he belongs just fine, Levito.
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CM Punk will finally make his UFC debut at UFC 203 in September
- Thread starter Obliterator
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The Wild Kind
Banned
Wrasslin fan? Please show me a bit more hespect than that.
Himself?
Of course he belongs.
I can't believe people are trying to apply any sort of standard of sporting legitimacy to the ufc.
The UFC is a promotion who's aim is getting people to buy their shows. CM Punk gets people to do that. CM Punk is more qualified to be in the ufc than 95 percent of the fighters on its roster.
RBelong2Us
Member
No he's not.
And following that logic they should match up Beyoncé with Ronda Rousey. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯ He's a draw, of course. That's why he's there, cause he's a celebrity. You could throw Tony Hawk in there too and he'd accomplish the exact kind of pull Punk does too.
Like Nate says, it's not fair to the athletes that worked there way to get there. And are, ya know, actual martial artists.
Good lord this logic is comical. He's never had an MMA fight, not once. Not professional, not amateur. He's like a whitebelt in jiu jitsu, that's not even remotely going to help him in the UFC.
The Wild Kind
Banned
Perhaps it's because we're on a video game forum that Levito thinks Dana White is Shao Kahn assembling the greatest martial artists in the world, but that isn't the case. All he can do is select the most talented fighters that he can whom spectators want to see fight. In that case this is CM Punk
bean breath
Member
CM Punk has attended a UFC fight, walked a UFC fighter to the cage, and has had a one on one interview with Ariel Helwani, in which the subject of him fighting was brought up. Of course the natural next step after all that is to fight in the UFC.And following that logic they should match up Beyoncé with Ronda Rousey. ¯_(ツ
He's a draw, of course. That's why he's there, cause he's a celebrity. You could throw Tony Hawk in there too and he'd accomplish the exact kind of pull Punk does too.
Like Nate says, it's not fair to the athletes that worked there way to get there. And are, ya know, actual martial artists.
Good lord this logic is comical. He's never had an MMA fight, not once. Not professional, not amateur. He's like a whitebelt in jiu jitsu, that's not even remotely going to help him in the UFC.
Have Beyonce or Tony Hawk even done one of the aforementioned things that CM Punk has?
PhantomZone
Member
Hope he gets ko'd in round 1
Obliterator
Member
I mean it's 100% real
To be fair, the UFC doesn't do itself any favors with its own matchmaking in that regard. It's a shitshow where virtually anything goes as long as they can generate hype/PPV buys.
We're talking about a company where, for the second time, the featherweight champion is fighting a lightweight contender in a non-title welterweight fight. The same featherweight champ who is holding the belt hostage and who will likely never fight in that weight class again.
Then take this Brock Lesnar shenanigans. Dude gets a free pass wrt drug testing and will fight Mark Hunt roided out of his mind thanks to a clause that more or less allows the UFC to waive testing of a returning fighter whenever the fuck they want.
GOAT promotion. Can't fucking wait for the fights.
If he wins? Dawg, Dana didn't spend the last year finding someone to BEAT Punk
A guy who play fights The Undertaker will sell multiple times the pay-per-views than the pound-for-pound #1 "real martial artist" Demetrious Johnson. For those who don't know, that's the guy they call "Mighty Mouse" in the UFC. I can't imagine how soul burning that can be to someone who takes the UFC so seriously, with his signing effectively rendering their long held position null-and-void.
Obliterator
Member
Draws and Carny fights will always exist. But frankly trying to paint the UFC in its current iteration as some sort of "joke fight promotion" is a woefully misconstrued argument.
I mean the rest of 203 is going to be legitimate fights involving actual trained fighters. Throwing Punk on there to move some PPVs doesn't render the rest null and void
I mean the rest of 203 is going to be legitimate fights involving actual trained fighters. Throwing Punk on there to move some PPVs doesn't render the rest null and void
The only difference between the UFC and the WWE is who books the winner. In WWE it's management, in UFC it's the talent.
Both still have their promos, their heat, their marks, their smarks, jobbers, enhancement talent, and gimmicks to get buys. Hell most of the time the combatants coordinate on their promos to get buys up. Both are carny as all fuck.
Obliterator
Member
Sure.
And the roster is roughly 500 athletes deep and filled with fighters that don't promo hard
Trying to paint the organization as the WWE couldn't be any further from the truth. Sure among its biggest draws they'll do some similar strategy to sell. But that's all combat sports in general. The same thing happens in boxing.
The Wild Kind
Banned
The fact that a "legitimate" martial artist would choose the name Mighty Mouse sort of proves why you need someone with an effective media presence in order to draw attention to the "sport".
Dead Prince
Banned
I'll believe it when i see it. expecting someone to get a sprained wrist and not be able to fight right around august
Could you say this about any real sport?
I mean, Lex Luger is kicking the field goals, but the rest of this game is so legit.
This whole idea that being marketable and popular is the most important thing when it comes to fighting and actual skill can be tossed aside can be dispelled pretty quickly with referencing one fight:
DADA 5000 vs Kimbo Slice
That was a fight built on nothing marketability. Then look what happened, it was the worst fight in professional MMA history and DADA almost died. Freakshow fights will always exist in prize fighting, yes. Marketability and stars are important when selling a PPV, yes. CM Punk is a popular guy and will bring eyes to the product, yes. At the end of the day though if the talent can't perform, then it's all for naught.
You can say that about any sport broadcasted to an audience?
DADA 5000 vs Kimbo Slice
That was a fight built on nothing marketability. Then look what happened, it was the worst fight in professional MMA history and DADA almost died. Freakshow fights will always exist in prize fighting, yes. Marketability and stars are important when selling a PPV, yes. CM Punk is a popular guy and will bring eyes to the product, yes. At the end of the day though if the talent can't perform, then it's all for naught.
You can say that about any sport broadcasted to an audience?
Nemesis121
Member
Gonna get rekt, retire,and return to WWE..
just fyi i don't consider what i'm saying as a negative towards UFC. It's more a remark of "why is punk there" well he's not there to fight, he's there for buys and to prove to Vince he doesn't need him to get on TV. Hell both promotions are probably gonna start cross promoting more.
Don't know if anyone is outright saying they're a joke but I think the UFC and other MMA organizations (Bellator, Venator, etc) can veer further into WWE-ish territory than a lot of fight fans are willing to acknowledge.
His Twitch streams are pretty cool
I think they're construing it as some kind of insult.
Personally, I enjoy the fact that they will both sign James Toney to a fight against a multiple time champion, and have Chael Sonnen talk himself into a title match, if only to remind these purists of what they're actually watching. Sports entertainment.
Cats want to see Dan Henderson fight for a title in 2016 despite being 3-6 in his last 9 fights and pretend this sport is legit at the same time.
Don't worry yo, GSP's coming for that MW belt now that Bisping has it lolol.
Would honestly rather see Hendo get the shot and have him retire win or lose if those are two legit options ¯\_(ツ
_/¯.I'd say you're right on the money.
Crimson_Echidna
Banned
Naw, he'll just put off his next match for another 2 years.
crimzonflame
Member
welp
Is Nate the best or is he the best?
LiquidSolid
Member
I still don't know why he's doing this. He should've given up on the fighting idea and become a UFC commentator instead, that's a job I could actually see him doing really well in.
sketchsanchez
Member
I get the feeling punk knows he'll probably get wrecked but still wants to try because why not. I dunno, I respect that. It's not his fault UFC said yes, he seems so intent on giving it a try he probably would have still done the training and have a fight *somewhere*.
TimeEffect
Member
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