UFC 203 Wrap-Up

By Muk

Saturday nights UFC 203 main card in Cleveland was a fun one, and for basically only two fights.
First, we saw Mickey Gall embarrass CM Punk, taking him down within the first 5 seconds and promptly forcing him to tap-out via rear naked choke in under 3 minutes. Gall landed a few big shots during the ground and pound before taking Punk's back and working for, and securing the choke. Listen, is this exactly what I expected? Yes. CM Punk has absolutely no business being inside the Octagon for a UFC promoted fight, but he did show courage and can now look back in 30 years and say he was happy to try it, but MMA is not for everyone. You can't walk in off the street and expect to be ready for the UFC in only 2 short years, it is just not possible. Another thing this fight proved, is Mickey Gall is the real deal, and he is going to be a superstar. He made a name for himself by calling out Punk, then dominated. Then immediately asked for Sage Northcutt in his post fight interview, and Dana White made it known that Northcutt''s camp is interested, and the fight will likely happen sooner than later.
In the co-main event, we had a very bizarre fight between Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne. The bad blood was evident between the two in their rematch, and Werdum dominated for the most part, but that was largely in part to Browne breaking, or dislocating, his finger on his right hand within the first opening minutes. We saw Werdum attempt a variety of strange strikes, throwing high kick after high kick, and looking for leg-lock takedowns, failing consistently. Then, in the most ridiculous part of it all, Fabricio and Browne's coach almost threw punches in the octagon post fight, as a very confused crowd looked on.
In our main event, Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem squared off in front of a sold out, Cleveland crowd for the heavyweight title. This fight lasted only one round, but man was it a good round. The two strikers traded shots early, until Overeem caught the champ with a clean shot to the jaw, knocking him on his ass, and The Reem pounced on him and locked in a guillotine, but Stipe managed to work his way free from the choke, and stood it right back up. Stipe then went into attack mode and began landing shot after shot, backing Overeem against the cage and teeing off, and as Alistair managed to escape, Stipe took his legs out from under him and got on top of Overeem, where he was able to land a few huge shots, and bounce Alistair's head off the canvas and knock him out to retain the title of the baddest man on the planet, and in doing so, set the crowd on fire as Cleveland erupted in cheers for their hometown hero.
What's next for our 203 fighters? Well first, Mickey and Sage looks like its a done deal for sometime this year, and CM Punk vowed to fight again, whether it be with the UFC or not is still unclear. Browne is struggling as of late, and will be out indefinitely with a finger injury. I know Werdum is fully expecting a title shot, but I don't see that to be fitting, following Cain's impressive UFC 200 performance, so maybe Cain vs. Fabricio 2? Winner gets Stipe? That would be my fight to make if I am the UFC matchmakers, and work Junior Dos Santos into the mx as soon as he is fully healthy. No one has ever made more than 2 successful defenses of the UFC's Heavyweight title, but Stipe is looking to make his case as the man to do it first.