Even with the heavyweight championship at stake, most of the hype as well as interest in UFC 203, came from the unique story of former pro wrestling superstar C.M. Punk making his UFC debut.



The story told is that this was a major star making millions who left his former business because he wanted to try MMA. Unlike pro wrestlers who went into MMA with major fanfare like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley, Punk had no pedigree as an amateur wrestling champion, or any athletic credentials to speak of. He never played sports in high school. He had taken a few martial arts classes as a kid an trained at times with Rener Gracie in Jiu Jitsu. After nearly two years of training, broken up by both shoulder and back surgeries, he went into the UFC cage, and reality struck.



Two years of extreme dedication, training at a good gym and having mental toughness wasn't enough to overcome starting out training for the sport at 36 and debuting just before his 38th birthday. He moved to Milwaukee, did two-a-days, earned the respect of the real fighters in his gym, and battled through the wear-and-tear of the 200-matches per year and intense travel schedule in pro wrestling had take out of his body. Punk had considered strongly making the move in 2011, but he had his best years with the WWE after making the decision to sign one more three-year-contract. Because of how successfully he was financially, which allowed him to dedicate himself to MMA at the level he did, he came short of saying he wished he'd have made the move in 2011.



In an article he penned before the fight in The Players Tribune, Punk was succinct in why he was doing MMA.



"My reasons for pursuing MMA were simple. First off, it's something I've always wanted to do. More important, it makes me happy."



When Punk walked to the ring, the common belief was he was walking towards a physical execution, similar to when Nobuhiko Takada, a huge star from the pro wrestling world, took a major payday in 1997 and knew reality would strike his tough-guy aura dead as he stepped into the ring with Rickson Gracie at the Tokyo Dome.



But there was a huge difference. Takada looked like a going to the gallows. Punk had a big smile on his face. Even after losing, he called it the second greatest day of his life, trailing only his wedding day, which is not what most fighters say after losing badly in their UFC debut.



A lot of questions have been raised in hindsight. Should UFC have signed Punk in the first place? Should Ohio have allowed the fight? Should they have picked Mickey Gall as his opponent? Should they have put a stop to it themselves when the word was out that Punk, while having a great attitude, was struggling in training?



All of these can be debated. It happened and the fight went largely as most expected.



The untold story of the fight was the decision to put Gall as the opponent. Under normal circumstances, when somebody with a name comes into a fight sport, whether they be an actor or celebrity or star from another sport, promoters will try to find an opponent they could most likely beat. There are exceptions, such as in Japan, where a hyped newcomer losing ones first fight to a name opponent is considered part of the process.



The UFC took a different tact. In picking Gall, it was clear they were trying to create a win/win. If Punk would have won, they were fine, as he'd fight again. If he didn't win, they had someone who they could follow-up with. Gall took every advantage of his lottery ticket when it came to marketing. He was put in the spotlight, and in the buildup, came out of it with more name recognition than most fighters on the roster today. The jury is out on whether he'll become a good fighter, as wins over Mike Jackson and Punk really give any insight as to what level of fighter he is, or what potential he'll have. Plus, a 24-year-old formerly unknown rookie fighter thrust into the spotlight and becoming a star can go many different ways.



The contrast is how Strikeforce handled Herschel Walker. Now, Walker, even starting nearly a decade older than Punk, was in a different universe as an athlete. But he was put in with opponents that he was expected to beat. Had Walker stumbled, there would have been no stars made off his name, nor was that ever the goal. The goal was to take a famous guy who was rich and had the itch to be a fighter and use him to bring fans to the product.



For the UFC, the short-term goal was to use Punk's notoriety to make money, but the long-term goal was to create a scenario where the house wins no matter what the outcome.



So the question becomes, what is next for Punk?



Punk seemed adamant he still wants to fight. He made it clear he loves the sport and said a lot of inspirational words about not wanting to give up on a challenge that almost nobody in his position would ever take. He was a guy who was motivated by proving critics wrong, and put himself in a position where the odds were his critics would seemingly have the last laugh. Yet, in the end, even in losing, the vast majority were respecting for him in trying. He lost the fight, but as an individual, came out of it as anything but a loser.



Dana White strongly hinted afterwards that if Punk fought again, UFC wouldn't be the place. And that was the initial gut reaction, that for a fighter at his skill level, the UFC is not the place for him. In 2010, the UFC cut Kimbo Slice after two fights even though he was a huge star and drew eyeballs like few others, once it was clear he couldn't hang at the UFC level. Today's Punk is nowhere near the 2010 Slice.



A key, which we don't know the answer to yet, is, from a business standpoint, did this experiment work?



Saturday's UFC 203, based on the lineup, probably would have done in the range of 250,000 to 300,000 buys on pay-per-view if you take Punk out of the equation. Any number above that should be attributed to Punk. Some people may have wanted to follow his journey. Some were ardent fans of his from pro wrestling. Some may have just been curious.



There was interest to the extent that there were 1.2 million Google searches related to UFC 203 over the weekend, when the normal range of a show of that caliber would have been between 200,000 and 500,000. Will that correlate to pay-per-view? Almost every time a UFC event hits the 1 million search mark, the pay-per-view numbers end up very strong, so preliminary indications are good.



Will they stay interested? With something like this, the first one is going to be the biggest, and even more so in this case because of how the first one went.



But if the UFC were to release Punk, and he still wants to fight, a Bellator/Punk relationship makes all the sense in the world. Bellator will, if nothing else, give him a more favorable match-up, and Punk fighting on free television for the first time, and probably a time or two after that, will likely do big numbers. So does UFC want to hand a legitimate drawing card over to the opposition?



Another possible direction for Punk would be Rizin, as he's the kind of fighter that fits into that organization. They could probably match him with another name pro wrestler and draw a lot of attention. If Rizin insists on using Kazushi Sakuraba at this stage, Punk, if nothing else, makes for a marketable and intriguing opponent. Keep in mind that I think it's criminal that Rizin still uses Sakuraba as a fighter at this stage, but if they were insistent on still using him for their New Year's Eve show, Punk would be as perfect an opponent as there could be.



So let's look at how Fortunes Changed for Five Stars of UFC 203:



STIPE MIOCIC - UFC 203 was looking an overall downer of a show, unfortunate because the sellout crowd for the debut at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland was enthusiastic from the start. But the main event saved it.



Miocic (16-2), the hometown favorite, survived being rocked early to score a first-round knockout over Alistair Overeem. The incredible reaction of the hometown fans to the champion retaining brought back memories of seeing Georges St-Pierre beating Matt Serra in Montreal or Randy Couture beating Tim Sylvia for his final heavyweight championship.



While Fabricio Werdum pushed hard for a title rematch after beating Travis Browne that night, Werdum's battle was not just beating Browne, but looking more impressive than Cain Velasquez did against Browne at UFC 200.



The clear edge went to Velasquez (14-2), and that should be the next heavyweight title contender. Werdum has an argument that he beat Velasquez when they met and thus should be the rightful No. 1 contender. But in their most recent fights, Velasquez looked far more impressive.



It's not a no-brainer decision, but Miocic vs. Velasquez is a first-time match-up, and one could make a great case that it's also a battle between the two best heavyweights in the sport.



FABRICIO WERDUM - If Werdum (21-6-1) doesn't get the title match, his next opponent should be Josh Barnett (35-8). Barnett is coming off a submission win over Andrei Arlovski the previous week, so the timing matches up. It's also a very intriguing fight. Both are about the same age, Werdum being 39 and Barnett being 38. Both are solid as strikers and excellent on the ground. Barnett may be the only heavyweight on the active roster who wouldn't be leery of going to the ground with Werdum. And the winner would have every right to be the next title contender.



ALISTAIR OVEREEM - Overeem (41-15, 1 no-contest) is in the unique situation that almost every top heavyweight on the UFC roster except Velasquez would be someone he's faced before, whether it would be Junior Dos Santos, Ben Rothwell, Browne, Arlovski, Mark Hunt, Roy Nelson or even Brock Lesnar. Overeem has never faced Barnett, but this isn't the right time for that fight. He's also never faced Derrick Lewis (16-4). But as far as a marketable fight of sluggers for right now, I'd go with Hunt (12-11-1, 1 no contest) since they haven't met since 2008.



MICKEY GALL - Gall (3-0) was ready after his fight to issue a challenge to Sage Northcutt (8-1). It's really the perfect opponent at this stage of the game for both fighters. Gall, from New Jersey, also asked for it to be in Madison Square Garden, but it might not happen at that venue because of Northcutt's staph infection. Gall put himself on the map in calling out Punk, and he's become a perfect example of a guy who would have likely been an unknown fighter for several more years whose aggressive callouts put him, and now should keep him in the spotlight.



JIMMIE RIVERA - You rarely see 20-1 records in the UFC. Rivera dominated a potential future Hall of Famer in Urijah Faber, in winning a straight 30-27 decision on Saturday. Rivera's record, and the Faber win, should get him a shot at either Bryan Caraway (21-7) or former champion T.J. Dillashaw (13-3). With it looking like Dominick Cruz will next defend the bantamweight title against Cody Garbrandt, it leaves Dillashaw without an opponent. Rivera vs. Dillashaw is a perfect match for both, because no matter the result, the winner could very viably claim the next title shot.