UFC 203: Stipe Miocic retains heavyweight title while CM Punk loses on professional debut

UFC 203 may not go down in the record books as record-breaking UFC pay-per-view, but the headlines coming out of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio will live long in the memory.

The evening ended as the fans wished with their local hero Stipe Miocic retaining his UFC heavyweight in the main event against Alistair Overeem.

While the Cleveland fans saw the fight ends as they wished, their man's title reign looked to be under bigger threat when Alistair Overeem knocked the American down with a big left hand and then looked to end the fight with a guillotine.

Somehow, Miocic scrambled out of this position and made his way back to his feet. From there Miocic moved into the ascendancy in the striking before taking Overeem to the ground and retaining his belt with some brutal ground and pound to force the stoppage.

The other headlines last evening were of course made by CM Punk who made his professional debut after signing for the UFC back in December 2014. Unfortunately for Punk, his dream UFC debut didn’t quite end as he’d probably imagined it would as his opponent Mickey Gall made short work of him inside round one.

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Punk arguably lost the fight in the first five seconds as he marched across the cage and got taken down almost immediately. Gall then took his time, transitioning from side control, into full mount and then eventually taking his back. Punk attempted to squirm away from his relentless ground and pound but once Gall had his back, the writing was on the wall and he locked in a rear-naked choke to get the tap with just two minutes and fourteen seconds on the clock.

Afterwards, Punk thanked the UFC for the opportunity and assured the fans in attendance that they would see him inside the UFC Octagon for a second time.

In the co-main event, heavyweights Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne put on an entertaining affair to cap the undercard. The tone was set by Werdum in first very first seconds as he came running out the corner with a flying sidekick.

The two then had a back and forth battle on the feet that went the full distance though the Brazilian landed a significant amount more strikes than the American and looked by far the dominant of the two. Unsurprisingly, Werdum took the unanimous decision when the cards were read.

Earlier on in the evening, Joanne Calderwood was defeated in the opener on the main card by Jessica Andrade. After dominating the opening minute on the feet, Calderwood found herself on her back as the Brazilian took the fight down to the mat with a well-timed takedown. From there, Andrade worked into side control and after working several positions, she trapped Calderwood in a guillotine to force the tap.

Main Card

Stipe Miocic def. Alistair Overeem via KO, Round 1 - 4:27

Fabricio Wedrum def. Travis Browne via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Mickey Gall def. CM Punk via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1 – 2:14

Jimmie Rivera def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jessica Andrade def. Joanne Calderwood via submission (guillotine), Round 1 – 4:38

Preliminary Bouts

Bethe Correia def. Jessica Eye via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Brad Tavares def. Caio Magalhaes via Split Decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)

Nik Lentz def. Michael McBride via TKO (Punches), Round 2 – 4:17

UFC Fight Pass Preliminary Card

Drew Dober def. Jason Gonzalez via TKO (Punches), Round 1 – 1:45

Yancy Medeiros def. Sean Spencer via Submission (Rear-naked Choke), Round 2 – 0:39