UFC president Dana White said he plans to meet with CM Punk in Detroit but failed to elaborate on the subject of their upcoming conversation.
“CM Punk is coming to Detroit and wants to talk to me,” White said, per Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I love the guy. We’ll see what he’s doing.”
The Motor City is set to host UFC 218 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.
White’s comments could mean a number of things.
He and Punk may discuss planning Punk’s second fight in UFC, or at the very least leave open the possibility of the former WWE star stepping inside the Octagon again. Of course, the complete opposite scenario could transpire, with Punk and White coming to an agreement on ending Punk’s brief UFC tenure.
After all, Punk hasn’t fought professionally for over a year, and he didn’t look particularly good in his first-round defeat to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September 2016.
Punk’s trainer, Duke Roufus, indicated the 39-year-old was gearing up for a return to UFC when he posted a photo on Instagram that included the caption, “Working on his next Fight.”
Punk certainly has plenty of name recognition, which could be of benefit to UFC with big questions hovering around two of the company’s biggest stars. Jon Jones is facing a lengthy suspension and Ronda Rousey’s MMA career is up in the air.
Adding Punk to a pay-per-view card would immediately draw in some of the more casual fans of the sport.
Still, Punk isn’t getting any younger and the longer he’s removed from having wrestled in WWE, the law of diminishing returns is likely to become a bigger issue.
At the very least, White and Punk could provide a more definitive answer as to his future with UFC with the conversation this weekend.
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