CM Punk Remains Optimistic Regarding Future With UFC
Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star CM Punk made his long awaited mixed martial arts (MMA) debut earlier this year, when he suffered a first round submission loss to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in Cleveland this past September.
After suffering the quick defeat many called for Punk to be cut from the major promotion, proposing that he instead come up through the circuit of smaller promotions and return when his skills have sharpened. UFC President Dana White stated that perhaps Punk’s next fight shouldn’t be in the UFC, however, ‘The Cult Of Personality’ himself is willing to throw down anywhere, UFC or not.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (courtesy of MMA Fighting) with Ariel Helwani earlier today (Monday November 21, 2016), Punk detailed a conversation he had with White after his loss to Gall, to which he remained adamant on wanting to get back in the Octagon again:
“I don’t want to speak for him, but I think if he wants to kill it, he would have killed it right then,” Punk said.“Until anything is official, I don’t want to say either way what he’s thinking or what he’s thinking. But yeah, I’m pretty confident that it’ll be in the UFC.”
“I told him I want to fight again,” Punk said. “We’re back at it. We’re back to the drawing board. So, it’s up to him. He floated me an idea and we’re kind of going back and forth on it right now.”
After the contest Punk was visibly emotional, but it wasn’t due to the fact that he feared his lifelong dream was coming to an abrupt end after the lopsided defeat, but because he simply couldn’t get the job done for himself and his team:
“The UFC just made me a business offer,” said Punk. “I wasn’t emotional, because I saw that something was over. I was just bummed that I lost.”
The former professional wrestling star will not retreat to his former occupation, but will instead continue to embark on the grueling road of being a professional mixed martial artist. Even if he has to do it for a promotion that isn’t the UFC:
“This is what I do now,” Punk said he told the UFC boss. “This is what I’m going to do now. If i can do it for you, awesome. If not, I’ll still bug you for tickets to your show.”
Punk has yet to get his next bout as of this writing, and is it still up in the air if the Roufusport team member will even remain with the promotion for the foreseeable future. If the UFC does allow Punk to continue his UFC tenure, who would you like to see the welterweight fight next?
