Last weekend (Sat. June 9, 2018) former WWE Champion CM Punk participated in the second mixed martial arts (MMA) fight of his career at UFC 225 on pay-per-view (PPV). Punk fought former Houston Golden Gloves winner Mike Jackson.
Punk was able to last all three rounds, as opposed to his first fight where he lost via submission in just over two minutes, but that was largely due to his opponent dragging the fight out. Punk has received a lot of criticism for his MMA career, with many suggesting he should simply return to professional wrestling.
UFC President Dana White recently jumped to Punk’s aid, saying he was following his dreams and put a ton of dedication into his new venture. He also blasted fans by saying it’s easy for them to criticize Punk, who is fighting three five minute rounds inside a cage, while they’re sitting in their living rooms watching:
“This guy was actually a huge star at WWE, came over here and put it all on the line twice in front of the whole world. Now if people can’t respect that, then you’re a f–king idiot anyways,” White said about Punk when speaking to the MMA Roasted podcast.
“You can’t tell somebody don’t do the thing that you want to do the most. CM Punk wanted to be a UFC fighter. He wanted to come and he wanted to fight here. He wanted it so bad that he f–king dropped everything and focused on nothing but mixed martial arts. Next time you talk to Duke Roufus or [Anthony] Pettis or any of those guys, talk about how this guy was driving back and forth from Chicago to their place and would drive for hours to come out and train and would train forever and they all ended up respecting him.
“The guy went in there and put it all on the line. Tell me one guy that can walk into the UFC at 38 years old and compete after he’s been training for f–king months,” White said. “He was just a regular guy. The only reason Brock Lesnar did as well as he did is because he was a real wrestler. The guy actually came from collegiate wrestling and he was one of the best.”
With all that being said, White doesn’t see a third UFC opportunity in Punk’s future, but credited him for having the guts to do it in the first place:
“I don’t think he really wants a third chance,” White said. “Hopefully after this last fight, the guy he’s got balls and he’s got guts and he went on the world stage and he gave it two shots. A lot of people want to talk s–t on CM Punk, get in there, come on over. Fight one of these guys. It’s easy to f–king sit in your living room and talk s–t. Come in here.”
Thanks to our sister site, MMA News, for the quotes. Go there for the latest in everything MMA now!
