A history of scripted fights has officially earned CM Punk the chance to get into his first real scrap as a professional.

According to a report released by MMA Junkie on Tuesday, the former WWE superstar known in real life as Phil Brooks was granted a fight license due to his prior experience competing inside the squared circle. Under the rules of the Ohio Athletic Commission, a fighter must have logged five amateur bouts in order to obtain the proper license to fight, but Executive Commissioner Bernie Profato told MMA Junkie that process wasn't necessary in Punk's case.

“The five-fight rule, we’ve waived it a number of times, especially for Ohio State wrestlers,” Profato, who’s headed the Ohio commission for 12 years and until this past year was a prominent regulatory voice with the Association of Boxing Commissions, serving on the MMA rules and boxing database committees, said. “We used the Lesnar situation as an example to approve it. When (professional wrestlers) get that high, they have a massive training (facility). We’ve checked that out with the WWE. They’re watched in there. They probably train, in some cases, even harder than some of the UFC fighters.”

Profato's mention of former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is a curious one. The Minnesota native was a NCAA Division I National Champion before his career as a professional wrestler, which amounts to years of combat experience Punk lacks.

Profato believes the Roufusport fighter's time under the WWE banner built enough of a background for him to be granted the exception during the licensing process. The commissioner also highlighted Mickey Gall, the man Punk will fight at UFC 203, has a lack of experience in his own right, which will serve to make for a competitive tilt in Cleveland.

“We felt this was no different than, basically, the Brock Lesnar situation, when they let him fight in the UFC,” Profato said. “We have confidence in the matchmaking of the UFC. It looks like a competitive fight.

“If it was that weak a fight, it would have been one of the preliminary-card fights,” Profato continued. “It’s a competitive fight. It may not be one of the greatest fights on the card, but it’s a competitive fight.”