CM Punk’s first UFC fight might also end up being his last UFC fight. Because while the former WWE wrestler was gracious in defeat and delivered an excellent post-fight speech, he got absolutely destroyed by Mickey Gall in the first bout of his MMA career at UFC 203 in Cleveland. Punk looked completely out of place and was unable to establish any sort of momentum during the fight, and it was so bad that it’s hard to imagine him climbing back into the Octagon at any point in the future, despite what he said right after the fight was over.
If nothing else, though, the fight brought a lot of eyeballs to UFC 203, and it provided a spark for an event that might have flown under the radar otherwise. It also had quite a few professional MMA fighters glued to their TV screens during the fight, and after it was over, many of them had something to say about it. Some praised Punk for having the balls to take part in a UFC fight, while others clowned him for stepping into a world that he’s unfamiliar with at the age of 37. Here’s how 20 MMA fighters reacted to Punk taking his first L: