STIPE MIOCIC RETAINED his UFC heavyweight title last night in his hometown of Cleveland, but the headline bout at UFC 203 was overshadowed by the mixed martial arts debut of Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks.
Despite possessing no previous MMA experience, the 37-year-old former professional wrestling star made his UFC bow on last night’s main card after leaving the WWE in 2014.
His welterweight bout against Mickey Gall was a one-sided affair, as expected, with Punk charging in too eagerly which allowed Gall to execute a double-leg takedown with ease.
The 24-year-old then manhandled the debutant on the ground, breaking him down with punches and elbows before forcing Punk to tap to a rear-naked choke after two minutes and 14 seconds.
Afterwards, Gall — who took his professional record to 3-0 — called out Sage Northcutt, while CM Punk insisted there were no regrets about his decision to take on such a sizeable challenge.
“In life, you go big or you go home,” said the Chicago native. “This was a hell of a mountain to try and climb but I’m not going to quit. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop. I will be back, believe it or not. I know there’s a lot of doubters but life’s about falling down and getting up.”
In the main event, Stipe Miocic rallied after a difficult start to get the better of Alistair Overeem following a thrilling four-and-a-half minutes, as he successfully came through his first defence of the UFC heavyweight title.
Miocic secured the knockout via ferocious ground-and-pound at the 4:27 mark of the opening frame, but the hometown hero had to withstand an early onslaught.
After dropping Miocic with a straight left, Overeem pounced and locked in a guillotine. The champion eventually broke free but the challenger claimed afterwards that Miocic tapped.
Overeem said: “I believe when I punched him and he went down, I followed him and got him in a guillotine choke, and I clearly felt a tap. The ref didn’t see it, the ref didn’t jump in, so the fight continued. In my opinion he tapped.”
Elsewhere on the main card, former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum — who Miocic dethroned earlier this year — bounced back by overcoming Travis Browne for the second time. Urijah Faber was upset by Jimmie Rivera, while Jessica Andrade looked impressive as she stopped Scotland’s Joanne Calderwood.
- Stipe Miocic def. Alistair Overeem via KO (punches) after 4:27 of round one
- Fabricio Werdum def. Travis Browne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 30-27)
- Mickey Gall def. Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks via submission (rear-naked choke) after 2:14 of round one
- Jimmie Rivera def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Jessica Andrade def. Joanne Calderwood via submission (guillotine choke) after 4:38 of round one
- Bethe Correia def. Jessica Eye via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Brad Tavares def. Caio Magalhães via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nik Lentz def. Michael McBride via TKO (punches) after 4:17 of round two
- Drew Dober def. Jason Gonzalez via TKO (punches) after 1:45 of round one
- Yancy Medeiros def. Sean Spencer via submission (rear-naked choke) after 0:49 of round two
