A former WWE superstar with zero mixed martial arts experience entered the UFC Octagon on Saturday -- and it was only the third or fourth strangest thing to occur on the evening.
That's how bizarre UFC 203 was.
In the co-main event, referee Gary Copeland allowed heavyweight Travis Browne to essentially call an "injury timeout" to fix a mangled finger, which is definitely not supposed to happen. Browne's opponent, Fabricio Werdum, went on to win anyway -- and then proceeded to half-heartedly kick Browne's trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, during a brief in-cage scuffle.
Stipe Miocic knocked out Alistair Overeem to retain the UFC heavyweight championship in the next fight, after which a dazed Overeem claimed Miocic had tapped out to a guillotine choke prior to scoring the knockout. Rather than talk it out later once Overeem's faculties returned, the UFC ran a series of in-house replays from multiple angles that clearly showed there was no tap -- all while Overeem stood awkwardly by.
And all of this took place after the event had already seen a fight scrapped at the last minute, when C.B. Dollaway suffered a freak injury to his back when an elevator in his hotel malfunctioned.
What do we ultimately make of all this madness? Here's what we learned at UFC 203.
The UFC can't promote a second CM Punk fight
Look, a lot of positive words have been written about Punk in the past 48 hours and I'm not here to disagree with any of them. Whether or not his story deserved to be linked to the UFC, it's an inspiring one.
Punk, 37, walked out of a lucrative career in professional wrestling two years ago because it didn't make him happy. He pursued a journey in mixed martial arts because it did. Good for him.
That said, there is no way the UFC can justify bringing him into the Octagon again after his first-round submission loss to Mickey Gall (3-0) on Saturday.
The UFC does deserve credit for doing something no one thought it would do, and that is book Punk against a legitimate opponent. That's not to say Gall has proven himself a UFC-caliber welterweight -- he hasn't yet. But at the very least, he's an athletic 24-year-old prospect with a tangible skill set.
And if we're being candid here, that alone probably meant he was out of Punk's league. Punk has a long professional wrestling career on his odometer. As inspiring as it for him to say, "age is just a number," the reality is that number stands for something, as does the back surgery he underwent earlier this year. He'd never say this, but he was in an impossible situation at UFC 203.
If last weekend was Punk's initiation to MMA, a trial by fire to see if he'd have the guts to come back from a public beating, his second fight should be about actual competition. Because that's what this guy has said he wants. He wants to fight for real and in order to do that, he deserves the right to do it in a "real" situation.
That means booking him against a similarly skilled opponent.
The UFC isn't the right promotion for that job. The opponent Punk needs is not someone the UFC should be signing -- even to a one-fight deal.
And again, none of this is meant to be a negative on Punk. On a personal note, I'd have interest in seeing Punk fight outside the UFC. If he did so, there's no question in my mind I'd tune in. But as far as seeing him do it in the Octagon? Count me out.
When Punk announced he had signed with the UFC in 2014, he described this respect he had for everyone who stepped into the cage and said by the time he was finished, people would have to respect him as well.
He earned that respect on Saturday, by seeing the process through and stepping into the Octagon himself. Doing so a second time might actually jeopardize that respect.
The dark horse that is Stipe Miocic continues to ride
Even the staunchest Miocic supporters would be hard-pressed to say they always pegged him for UFC history. He's two wins away from doing exactly that.
This stat is well documented, you've probably heard it by now: No UFC heavyweight champion has ever defended the title more than twice consecutively.
Throughout his career, no one has really doubted Miocic but there has always been room on his bandwagon. While it's not a shock he's the heavyweight champ, it never felt like a foregone conclusion beforehand either.
Should Miocic be the one to finally break that two-defense barrier, among all the great names that have previously held that title, it would fit in perfectly to his dark horse reputation. His path to get there figures to be difficult, as it will presumably include a matchup against former champion Cain Velasquez.
At this point, however, it would be foolish to discount his chances.