Logan Paul finally got the chance to face off with CM Punk in the ring, almost six years after first calling him out for a UFC fight.
During his years away from the WWE ring, pro wrestling icon Punk moved into MMA where he competed under the UFC banner on two occasions. Around the time of his second and final outing against Mike Jackson in 2018, Logan and his brother Jake Paul were making their boxing debuts against KSI and Deji.
After watching Punk lose to Jackson but refuse to retire from competition, Paul noted that after fighting KSI he would be willing to make his debut in the octagon against the wrestling star. However, the Chicago native refused, and they went their separate ways for years.
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Logan Paul and CM Punk face off in Monday Night Raw confrontation
On last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw, CM Punk and Logan Paul came head-to-head for segment in the ring. Paul was due to wrestle with Rey Mysterio, but came out to confront Punk for a promo before his match.
The pair went back-and-forth after Paul had eliminated Punk from the Royal Rumble a week prior. The social media star goaded his rival for earning ’15 minutes of fame’ from his viral moment, to which Punk hit back in a promo of his own.
“The way they’re booing you they must think you’re Dominick Mysterio or something,” Punk jibed. “Hey listen, you threw me out of the Royal Rumble, congratulations. I would have mentioned you earlier about possibly being in the Elimination Chamber but I honestly totally forgot you were even in a match.”
Punk also mimicked shooting himself in a moment caught by fans while he watched Paul make his entrance to the ring.
Logan Paul called out CM Punk for UFC fight almost six years ago
Back in the summer of 2018, just after Mike Jackson had obliterated CM Punk over three rounds in his sophomore octagon outing, Logan Paul offered up the possibility of a fight between the pair. Punk had yet to officially hang up the gloves, although it seemed unlikely Dana White would experiment again.
While at the airport about to head to Manchester for his first fight with KSI, Logan and his brother Jake were stopped by TMZ Sports and asked about their plans for future competition. The elder sibling noted that MMA would better suit his skillset than boxing given his wrestling background.
“I want to fight a UFC fighter,” he explained, with Jake noting that he is more naturally an MMA fighter. “I want to get in the octagon, I wrestled my whole life. For real, for real, bro, there’s no reason I can’t I literally did athletics my whole life.
“Dana White, if you’re watching this, bro, pick a fighter for me dude. Late next year, I’m about 190lb, cruiserweight [in boxing].” And asked who he would call out, he replied: “CM Punk, I would win, he got, like, kicked out.”
CM Punk dismissed Logan Paul’s fight callout
A few months after Logan had drawn with KSI, CM Punk finally answered the callout. However, he wasn’t keen on the matchup and claimed that the YouTuber’s antics earlier in the year would deem him unable to ever share the ring with the legend.
“I’m not fighting Logan Paul,” Punk told MMAFighting. “I think this is one of the avenues where people will be like, ‘I don’t even know who Logan Paul is.’ Logan Paul is apparently a popular guy, but it’s not in any kind of avenue that I drive my car on.
“The only thing I know about him is he’s the guy who filmed the dead body in the Japanese suicide forest, which is – don’t get me started on that, because I’ll say a bunch of stuff and then I’m sure somebody will make a YouTube video about it.
“When you fight somebody, when you enter into a fight camp, you have to spend a lot of time thinking about that person.
“And, I’m not into sharing that much of my time and my headspace and my life with somebody that did something that I feel is so reprehensibly disrespectful to the people of Japan, who I love. They’ll always have a special place in my heart. So, no. I’m not fighting him. I have no interest to.”
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