Eight months after announcing his signing with the UFC, CM Punk had a lengthy 45-minute interview with MMA Fighting. The former WWE star spoke about various topics regarding his MMA career and his upcoming UFC debut, and you can watch it all on the clip above.
Here’s a brief summary of notable topics tackled:
– CM Punk moved to Milwaukee and trains two to three times a day at Roufusport, with weekends off.
– Duke Roufus thinks Punk’s striking is developing rapidly. He had scrimmages or ‘amateur bouts’ in the gym, and got badly rocked during one of the striking-only matches he had.
– His whole training journey from 1st day at the gym is being filmed, and will be aired before his debut.
– No idea on his debut. ‘I keep saying end of the year, just because it would’ve been a year, and I kinda want to get my first (fight) in. My accountant wants me to wait until January. That’s just a personal goal, so I say December. But it’s up to (my coaches)’
– “I’m walking around 190 right now,” without eating clean. Targets debut at 170 lbs.
– He’s going to be announced as ‘CM Punk’ during debut, not Phil Brooks.
– Personal preference is to face someone who is already in the UFC roster for his debut.
– He visualizes his debut to be a pay-per-view in Vegas. ‘I would love to have a fight on the same card as Ronda or McGregor, so we can break some records and everybody can make some money.’
– I visualize my second fight to be in Chicago.
– On why UFC signed them: “Obviously they think they have their money in it. They had to convince me they were serious. I thought they were fucking kidding (when I got the offer).”
– Says it was the UFC’s idea to sign him. He wasn’t the one who went up to the UFC about it. He signed on October, and it was announced two months later in December.
– Punk picks Dillashaw to beat Barao.
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