CM Punk Confident He Can Earn Title Shot With ‘Three Or Four Wins’
Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar CM Punk is all set to make his highly-anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) debut, against Dana White’s Looking For A Fight prospect Mickey Gall at UFC 203 this September.
Leading up to the interesting 170-pound contest in Cleveland Punk recently spoke with Collin Howard on The Herd, courtesy of MMA Fighting, to talk about his rocky past with the WWE and where his future with the UFC may lead.
Punk began by responding to critics who claim that his stint in the UFC will be for no more than ‘two or three fights’:
“What’s wrong with doing it just two or three fights? That’s a lot of money,” Punk said.
“I was the guy in wrestling that always had an exit strategy. I was always saying, ‘I gotta get out of here.’ That’s why I’m just flabbergasted that people are actually like, ‘Whoa, he left!’.
“I was surrounded by a lot of old timers on the independent scene before I went to WWE. They were always like, ‘You gotta get out.’ You gotta get in, you get out.
“You can make a stupid amount of money, but if you stick around you wear out your welcome. Something bad’s going to happen.
“Guys that were legends in the sport, they made their money and for whatever reason, they didn’t get out,” he explained. “I always looked at that like, ‘I’m going to listen to the old, wise sages’. I’m going to get in to get out.
“”I know people think this is a publicity stunt, I’m never going to set foot in the Octagon,” he acknowledged.
Regardless of what his critics may think Punk is looking forward to proving them all wrong when he meets Gall in their welterweight contest this September, and is also confident he can secure a title shot if he is able to muster up a solid enough win streak:
“I look forward to proving them wrong, but to me, it’s not super far-fetched to be like, ‘You know what? What if I put three or four wins together? Who’s to say I don’t get a title shot?
“I’m a very positive thinking person. Of course I’m not going to saddle myself with this negativity that’s, ‘Oh, that’s it for me’. Because to me in life, it’s so cliche and it sounds so corny, so Karate Kid-like, but it’s not about getting knocked down.
“It’s about how many times you get up. That’s why I train the way I do. I get knocked down in training every day, so on Sept. 10th I won’t get knocked down.
“To wrestling fans who say, ‘Oh, this is B.S.’…the ones who say I’m going to fight one time are the same ones now saying I’m never going to make it to the Octagon. That’s for them to say,” Punk said. “They’re entitled to their opinion, but I’ll prove them all wrong.”
Punk and Gall will throw down at UFC 203 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 10, 2016, the UFC’s first-ever event in Cleveland. Hometown native Stipe Miocic will make his first title defense against Alistair Overeem in the card’s headliner.
