CM Punk Talks Cutting Weight, Comparisons To Tim Tebow & Michael Jordan (Video)

On Thursday afternoon, UFC held their final pre-fight press conference ahead of this Saturday’s UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem event in Cleveland, Ohio. The show will also feature the UFC debut of former WWE Superstar CM Punk, who meets UFC prospect Mickey Gall in the co-main event.

Punk looked gaunt at the media event, a result of him cutting weight to qualify for the 170 pound Welterweight bout against Gall. When about his experience cutting weight, he said, “Oh, well I’m okay. I’m happy they put me up here with the Heavyweights that are eating as much as they can around me [laughs]. This guy [Fabricio Werdum] was eating a whole turkey in the locker room right in front of me — no remorse! My weight cut is, you know, it’s not a fun thing to do. If anybody’s done it they know.”

Punk continued, “I’m not gonna tell you it’s been super awesome or disastrous, either way, that’s for you to figure out. I’m sitting pretty right now. I feel good. I’m here, I’ve got a little color in my cheeks. I mean, I don’t look bad, do I?”

Later in the press conference, MMA reporter Ariel Helwani brought up well-known NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow signing with MLB’s New York Mets and asked Punk if he feels he’s in a similar situation being at his first fight-week press conference just days out from his Octagon debut at age 37, after a full career as a pro wrestler.

“Oh, [Tebow] signed with the Mets? Good for him,” Punk said with a smile on his face. “I think that’s great. It’s awesome. [As far as] symmetry? Yeah, maybe, but the people who don’t like me are going to point out that, ‘Oh, Punk wasn’t a professional athlete!’ So, that’s a whole different can of worms. But yeah, I think there’s a lot of symmetry. You know, you go from one super …I’m debating on whether to call [pro wrestling] a sport or not. Everything I say gets ‘click-baited’ …f*ck it, yeah, [when] you go from one sport to another there’s parallels

The question also prompted Punk to draw another cross-over athlete comparison, as he mentioned Michael Jordan going from the NBA to MLB late in his career instead of going with the obvious comparison to Brock Lesnar, who has bounced back-and-forth between WWE and the UFC, or even Ken Shamrock, who also famously competed at a high level in both the pro wrestling and MMA worlds throughout his career.

“It’s like Michael Jordan went from playing basketball to playing baseball. ‘Oh, baseball [is] too hard, he’s not going to be able to do it!’ I’m awkward and uncoordinated and I’m old and I’m fat and I’m lazy and I suck and I was a ‘fake athlete’ …I’m not gonna be able to do it. If you believe all of that stuff then you’re not gonna be able to do it. I’m sure Tim Tebow can hit a ball, I think that’s great. We like Tim Tebow [here] in Cleveland, right? I’m not aligning with the enemy or anything, am I?”

Featured above, courtesy of the official UFC On FOX YouTube channel, is every question CM Punk was asked during today’s pre-fight press conference, as well as his responses to each of the questions.

UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem takes place live on pay-per-view this Saturday, September 10, 2016 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, featuring the long-awaited Octagon debut of CM Punk against Mickey Gall. For more coverage of CM Punk’s transition from the pro wrestling world to the MMA world, as well as round-by-round results of the PPV this Saturday night, visit our MMA affiliate website at MMANews.com.