While we’re no nearer to Phil Brooks, aka CM Punk, making his UFC debut due to a shoulder injury suffered in training. People are still talking about the WWE superstar turned MMA debutante-to-be.
First up, his teammate Ben Askren had some comments to MMA Fighting when asked about theories that Punk would never actually fight in the Octagon.
“If he’s not gonna fight, he fooled me,” said Askren. “I’ve heard that and people have asked me that. He’s in the gym all the time and he’s training all the time, so that would sure be a lot of effort to put into a publicity stunt. You’d think if it was a publicity stunt he’d maybe show up once a week or once a month. For a while before he was injured, he was in there twice a day, every day.”
Askren likes his 37-year-old Roufusport teammate’s chances in the UFC.
“Success is a skill and the guy has been super successful in another field,” Askren said. “So I don’t think there’s any reason why he can’t be successful at this one.”
Another MMA fighter with a more sterling resume than Punk and no UFC fights is Bobby Lashley. He spoke to Inside MMA about Brooks.
“If I had to give him some advice, I’d tell him don’t let anybody put you into something that you’re not ready for. He’s going into it 0-0. He’s going into the UFC, so I have no idea what they’re going to do with him at that point because a lot of people who made it to the UFC have had to really fight and claw to get into that organization. With him being 0-0 they’re going to have bring somebody else in that’s 0-0 into the UFC. Somebody is going to get the door opened up to come in there, which poses a little bit of a question.
“At the same time, the one thing I can say about CM Punk — and I do like CM Punk — the one thing I can say about him, if you look at CM Punk and you put him into the WWE world, he doesn’t fit the bill as a WWE guy. He’s not the Brock Lesnar’s, The Rock’s, the big, massive guys or anything like that, and he overcame a whole bunch of odds to become almost one of the best wrestlers in history. That’s one thing that I can say about Punk is that Punk likes to overcome odds and that’s one.
“He likes to be that underdog. He’s a hard worker and he’s a hard fighter. He’s put himself into a good position. He went up to Duke Roufus’ camp and some of the guys that train with him up there say that he’s busting his ass. I wish all the best for him. For anybody that wants to get into this crazy sport that we’re in, I wish them the best for it. Just train your ass off and go out there and just don’t get yourself put into something that you’re not ready for. But I think he’ll be ready for the match that they do set him up with, whoever that may be.”
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more CM Punk news as it develops.