Duke Roufus: Ben Askren is ‘stoked’ to work with CM Punk

Phil Brooks began training at Roufusport this week, less than a month after Ben Askren took offense at the UFC signing an inexperienced pro wrestler. In early December, Askren — who trains and coaches wrestling at Roufusport in Milwaukee — tweeted out the perceived hypocrisy of the UFC bringing in a pro wrestler like CM Punk ahead of a bona-fide mixed martial artist like himself.

“All you dummies believed @danawhite when he said I need more experience. Then he signs a 0-0 fake wrestler. LOL on you.”

The accomplished wrestler Askren was the long-tenured 170-pound champion in Bellator during Bjorn Rebney’s day, and was free to sign with any promotion he wanted in late-2013. He met with the powers at the UFC, but after Dana White said he should go gain “more experience” in World Series of Fighting, Askren opted to sign with the Asian-based ONE FC promotion, where he is now the welterweight champion. There has been plenty of spite on both sides since then.

But with Askren critical of the signing, how will it be with “the fake wrestler” CM Punk joining the Roufusport family?

Head coach Duke Roufus says it’ll be fine. And in fact, that Brooks will pick up more than literal wrestling techniques from Askren.

“Ben’s stoked to work with Phil,” he told MMA Fighting. “Something that’s really underrated with Ben — not unlike Daniel Cormier at AKA — he’s our fighter coach. Not only is Ben coaching well, one thing that I see him doing that I’m so happy with, he has a different perspective on helping the guys with their attitude.

“He’s all for Phil coming. He wants to work with him.”

Though there was some jostling amongst gyms trying to tempt him in, Brooks chose to train in Milwaukee in part because it was close to his native Chicago, and in part because him and Roufus have formed a friendship over the last couple of years. Though Brooks has trained in jiu-jitsu under Rener Gracie in California, he’s very much a work-in-progress at 36 years old.

But being surrounded by people like UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Askren will be a boon for a guy who’ll be learning the entirety of MMA on a fast track.

As for how the dynamic of Askren and Brooks will play out, Roufus said there are already more similarities between the two than people realize.

“You know what? Ben’s taking pages out of Phil’s book, what Phil did in WWE,” he said. “Ben is entertaining just with the black hat he puts on. Phil thinks Ben should be in the UFC, too.

“But, the other thing is, Twitter isn’t real. The Internet — none of this stuff is real. It’s entertainment. They’re both entertaining us. That’s the unique thing. I said it long before Brock Lesnar, and I learned this in Japan with K-1 and then the beginning of Pride Fighting — our sport is real wrestling. A lot of the guys are characters. Anthony [Pettis] is a character. I don’t know Anthony as ‘Showtime.’ I’m blessed to know Anthony as Anthony…but the week of the fight he slides into his character and becomes Showtime. That is prizefighting. I know some people who know Floyd really well. ‘Money’ and Floyd are two different people.”

Phil Brooks began training at Roufusport this week, less than a month after Ben Askren took offense at the UFC signing an inexperienced pro wrestler. In early December, Askren — who trains and coaches wrestling at Roufusport in Milwaukee — tweeted out the perceived hypocrisy of the UFC bringing in a pro wrestler like CM Punk ahead of a bona-fide mixed martial artist like himself.

“All you dummies believed @danawhite when he said I need more experience. Then he signs a 0-0 fake wrestler. LOL on you.”

The accomplished wrestler Askren was the long-tenured 170-pound champion in Bellator during Bjorn Rebney’s day, and was free to sign with any promotion he wanted in late-2013. He met with the powers at the UFC, but after Dana White said he should go gain “more experience” in World Series of Fighting, Askren opted to sign with the Asian-based ONE FC promotion, where he is now the welterweight champion. There has been plenty of spite on both sides since then.

But with Askren critical of the signing, how will it be with “the fake wrestler” CM Punk joining the Roufusport family?

Head coach Duke Roufus says it’ll be fine. And in fact, that Brooks will pick up more than literal wrestling techniques from Askren.

“Ben’s stoked to work with Phil,” he told MMA Fighting. “Something that’s really underrated with Ben — not unlike Daniel Cormier at AKA — he’s our fighter coach. Not only is Ben coaching well, one thing that I see him doing that I’m so happy with, he has a different perspective on helping the guys with their attitude.

“He’s all for Phil coming. He wants to work with him.”

Though there was some jostling amongst gyms trying to tempt him in, Brooks chose to train in Milwaukee in part because it was close to his native Chicago, and in part because him and Roufus have formed a friendship over the last couple of years. Though Brooks has trained in jiu-jitsu under Rener Gracie in California, he’s very much a work-in-progress at 36 years old.

But being surrounded by people like UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Askren will be a boon for a guy who’ll be learning the entirety of MMA on a fast track.

As for how the dynamic of Askren and Brooks will play out, Roufus said there are already more similarities between the two than people realize.

“You know what? Ben’s taking pages out of Phil’s book, what Phil did in WWE,” he said. “Ben is entertaining just with the black hat he puts on. Phil thinks Ben should be in the UFC, too.

“But, the other thing is, Twitter isn’t real. The Internet — none of this stuff is real. It’s entertainment. They’re both entertaining us. That’s the unique thing. I said it long before Brock Lesnar, and I learned this in Japan with K-1 and then the beginning of Pride Fighting — our sport is real wrestling. A lot of the guys are characters. Anthony [Pettis] is a character. I don’t know Anthony as ‘Showtime.’ I’m blessed to know Anthony as Anthony…but the week of the fight he slides into his character and becomes Showtime. That is prizefighting. I know some people who know Floyd really well. ‘Money’ and Floyd are two different people.”