Sporting Punk

Critics of UFC's decision to sign CM Punk are in an unassailable position.  They are right.  Signing CM Punk would be similar to a Major League Baseball team signing Nelly.  Punk's signing does alienate fighters; especially those on the border of UFC and the lessor fight promotions.  The move is -- at least in part -- a publicity stunt.  There is no way to counter these arguments.  Calling Punk's ESPN "car wash" a PR win is pointless to someone who wants to watch great fights.  Supposing that Punk's first pay-per-view will draw a great buyrate matters not to someone who's had to argue whether MMA is a real sport.  UFC decision makers have hurt the public's ability to accept MMA as a sport.  The detractors have that argument won.

All is not lost, however.  UFC and CM Punk can still make the best of things.  They can still make a lot of money in the short term (the short-term money argument, of course, is the argument that proponents of Punk's signing are hanging their hats on) while minimizing the damage to the sport of MMA.  Here's how:

CM Punk should start with a tomato can

Chael Sonnen recently said that Punk offered him the first fight.  That would've been a mistake.  (Sonnen turned it down, anyway.)  Punk vs. Sonnen or Punk vs. Michael Bisping might draw more money than Punk vs. Unknown, but it would cause even more damage to the sport of MMA.  A fundamental conceit of sporting fairness is that opponents should be of similar quality.  There is no way that Punk could prove himself to be of similar quality to a fighter like Sonnen or Bisping before the fight happens.  

If Punk starts off with a fight against a relative novice, it will make the fight feel more fair.  It might mean that only a ripple is added to the buyrate instead of a tidal wave, but at least it will be sporting.  UFC could even make the argument that Punk's first fight is normal in every way except publicity.  Any pro wrestler moving to MMA would likely start by fighting a tomato can.  The only difference with Punk is that it will be in the Octagon.  UFC could get that message out there in order to blunt some of the criticism from fans of the sport of MMA.

UFC should accelerate Punk, but not too much

It would be silly for UFC to treat Punk like a beginner.  He should not be forced to win five or six fights against low level opponents before matching up with a regular from the UFC roster.  But he should have to win a few.  

The business-minded folks (the ones who are supportive of Punk's signing to begin with) may throw their arms up in exasperation if UFC were to match Punk with two or three unknowns to start his career.  They would argue that UFC is throwing away money that could be made on a higher profile matchup and that a loss to an unknown would hurt Punk's drawing power.  And they would be right.  But UFC should be thinking long term, not short term.  Turning UFC into a sport that is respected (at least at the level of NASCAR or Formula 1) is a lot more valuable than a few hundred thousand buys.  Circus fights (which include a celebrity with one or two fights facing a former title contender with over a dozen) move UFC further from being a stable sport.  

If Punk has reached the end of his initial five fight contract and he looks legit, then at that point it would be wise to have him face a solid UFC pro.  Heck, if Punk's 4-0 it may evn make sense to have him fight a contender.  But UFC should throttle down Punk's ambitions, at least initially.  This isn't pro wrestling, and it would be a mistake to book Punk like WWE books The Rock.

Punk should fight on TV, at least once

There are a ton of people who are interested in watching CM Punk fight.  There are far fewer people willing to pay to watch it happen.

UFC already made the mistake of putting a high curiosity fight on pay-per-view when Ronda Rousey debuted.  Instead of riding the media crest to a record television rating, UFC grabbed a few million extra dollars in one night.  Now those dollars (or at least, the opportunity cost of those dollars) have been lost many times over as the company has become less visible and its overall business has declined.  

Long time fight fans remember how much business Mike Tyson's return from prison did in the mid-90's, but what is often forgotten is the role that over-the-air television had in promoting him.  Tyson was booked to face tomato can Buster Mathis in a sham pay-per-view fight.  Then a rival promoter booked Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe on the same night.  The rival promoter thought he'd won an important battle when Tyson's fight was moved to Fox.  Instead, Tyson drew a massive audience (in fairness, the rival promoter drew a solid pay-per-view number for Holyfield vs. Bowe as well) and went on to even bigger pay-per-view buyrates once he started facing equally matched opponents.  

It would be a waste of breath to suggest to Dana White that Punk's first fight be put on Fox or Fox Sports 1, but UFC should aggressively pursue having his second or third fight on television instead of pay-per-view.  The audience could be massive if the matchup is right and if the media cooperates, as they did for Ronda Rousey's first fight.  UFC could use a massive audience right about now.  It's no guaranteed that lapsed fans (and lapsed fans are, in fact, as big a problem for UFC as it is for WWE right now) would return, but it's worth a shot.

At present, both Punk and UFC brass seem to be moving in a different direction.  Punk will likely get a name fighter in his first fight.  If he doesn't face a name in his first fight, he'll likely be accelerated to a name fight in his second.  None of Punk's fights are expected to be on television.  That is fine.  After all, it's UFC's money, not mine.  But this isn't some advocation based on a grab for some arbitrary high ground.  This is an advocation based on money and long term success.  I think that UFC's biggest obstacle to long term success is the fact that they don't retain a stable fanbase the way most sports do.  Getting away from the pro wrestling mentality and booking CM Punk like the novice fighter he is might help convince lapsed fans that UFC is a sport worth coming back to.