CM Punk may have lost to Mickey Gall on Saturday at UFC 203, but he's still the first Marvel Comics writer to ever compete in the Octagon.

The former WWE Champion, who left the company in 2014 and announced he was joining UFC later in the year, was submitted in 2:14 of the first round by Mickey Gall, a 24-year-old with a 2-0 record. The bout was extremely one-sided, as Gall scored a takedown in the first few seconds, then spent the next two minutes controlling Punk with strikes and submission attempts. Eventually, a rear naked choke forced Punk to tap out and earned Gall the victory.

CM Punk was one of the most popular wrestlers in the world when he walked out of WWE immediately following the 2014 Royal Rumble event. In the months that followed, Punk referred to himself as "retired" and cited burn-out from the sport of wrestling, but remained relatively tight-lipped about his exit. That changed in November 2014, however, when he appeared on close friend Colt Cabana's "The Art of Wrestling" podcast and went into detail about his dissatisfaction with WWE bosses Vince McMahon and Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

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The following month at UFC 181, it was announced that Punk had signed a multi-fight deal with the MMA giant. He began training in early 2015 with coach Duke Roufus at the Roufusport MMA Academy in Milwaukee. Although coaches and sparring partners complimented Punk's work ethic, injuries slowed down his progress: In October 2015 he suffered a shoulder injury, and in February 2016, he was forced to undergo surgery for a herniated disc that dated back to his pro wrestling days.

After leaving WWE, Punk also pursued another dream, writing comic books. Although he had already penned the introduction to the hardcover collection of "Avengers Vs. X-Men" in 2012 while reigning as WWE champion, after quitting wrestling he started scripting comics in earnest. In February 2015, he co-wrote a segment in "Thor Annual #1 with "Chew" artist Rob Guillory, and in May he authored "The Most Cursed" for Vertigo's "Strange Sports Stories" #3.

Punk's first regular comics gig began in November, with the debut of "Drax," the first ongoing series starring "Guardians of the Galaxy" favorite Drax the Destroyer. Punk co-writes the book with Cullen Bunn ("Uncanny X-Men," "Magneto," "The Sixth Gun"); the bulk of the series has been drawn by Scott Hepburn.

"Drax" #11 goes on sale Sept. 28.