A Case for Aaron Chalmers and CM Punk

A Case for Aaron Chalmers and CM Punk

You don’t have to look very far on whatever social media platform you use or the various blogs and groups that are out there to see the disdain for Aaron Chalmers and CM Punk on their MMA journey or probably more accurately the amount of exposure they ae getting.

CM Punk has come into the MMA arena from the make-believe world of the WWE, while Chalmers has come from the reality side of television.

Of the two its CM Punk who has come into the sport on the biggest stage of all, the UFC. He of course made his MMA debut at UFC 203 in September 2016 losing to Mickey Gall in just over two minutes. It was expected that Punk would either be cut by the UFC or he would say I’ve tried but it’s not for me, and return to his wrestling world. But the 39 year old Punk is giving it another go, and again on PPV he will face fellow 0-1 fighter Mike Jackson at the upcoming UFC 225 in June.

Before Punk tries again, Aaron Chalmers (3-0) will return at Bellator 200 on May 25th and square off against Ash Griffiths (4-5). Chalmers has his first fight in Bellator after winning his first 3 bouts of his fledgling pro MMA career under the BAMMA promotion.

I think it’s fair to say that most of the criticism the pair receive is around the fact that both are getting fights on very big platforms, in Punk’s case on a PPV card in the biggest MMA promotion out there, while Chalmers himself is on the historic Bellator 200 card in London.

For all those who are saying they don’t deserve to be on the platform they are, they are denying other fighters that are more deserving of that place, I get that, and in many ways its hard to argue with it. But the majority of people who have that view point also realise why they have been given that platform.

Bellator have flagging TV ratings, Chalmers will give them greater exposure, newspapers and websites will write about him, it brings more awareness to their product, in the short-term Chalmers will help.

The UFC currently have the widely reported dwindling PPV numbers to address, CM Punk at UFC 203 helped spike that particular PPV card to over 400,000 buys, it will be interesting to see if the same thing happens at UFC 225. But the UFC certainly hope he does the same again, he is there for a reason.

The argument about more deserving fighters missing out on a PPV spot for CM Punk is valid, but to flip it around, with CM Punk on the PPV, the other fighters on the card will now get greater exposure, if as expected more people buy the PPV because he is on the card.

Both Chalmers and CM Punk could make their living in various other less dangerous ways, and both should be given credit for giving MMA a go, both seem serious about their MMA journey. At the end of the day there is no fault on either fighters part, they have a name, they are marketable, and they are running with it.

The same could be said of both Bellator and the UFC, they see a business opportunity which will bring money and exposure to their product, you certainly can’t blame any promotion or business that does that.

While everyone has their opinions on the rights and wrongs on the issue, but deserving or not, I am interested in both fighters, how they do, how they look, how far they go, and if something does bring greater exposure or awareness to our still relatively new sport, then both promotions have done their job.