Joe Rogan thinks a fight between CM Punk and Mike Jackson has no business being on the UFC 225 main card.
Longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan believes a fight between CM Punk and Mike Jackson should be taking place in an amateur event, not kicking off the UFC 225 main card.
Both Punk and Jackson have one professional fight to their names, both being a first round submission loss to Mickey Gall. Little has been heard from Jackson, who is a photographer and videographer for Legacy FC, since he was defeated by Gall in September 2016 at UFC 203.
Speaking on The JRE MMA Show with Robin Black, Rogan gave his take on the matchup, and why he thinks it has no business being on the main card of UFC 225.
“He’s now fighting a fighter who’s commensurate in talent and there’s nothing wrong with being a beginner in martial arts, but there’s something wrong with thinking you can be a beginner and fight Mickey Gall. It was a foolish venture. My approach to it was this is going to be a very good lesson for people who are fans of positive thinking and they think that’s enough. That s–t is not enough. If you weigh 110 pounds, you can positive think your way to the bank, Francis Ngannou’s still going to punch your brains out. There’s just no way around it. (Transcription by MMA Nytt)
After retiring from professional wrestling in 2014, Punk signed for the UFC in December of that year, he began training MMA under Duke Roufus at Roufusport in January 2015. Following his loss to Gall, it was unclear whether or not if Punk would return to the octagon, but UFC president Dana White confirmed last month that Punk would return at UFC 225 to face Jackson.
“A guy who really has very little experience in martial arts and has rudimentary control of his body…that’s what I saw when I saw him training. When I saw him training I thought ‘oh my god this guy’s gonna get killed’. He belongs here [against Mike Jackson]
It shouldn’t even be on the ‘Tuesday Night Contender’ show. It should be in some amateur event somewhere,” Rogan said. “That’s really what they are. They’re guys learning how to compete. They’re in the first fight on the pay-per-view. That’s f–king crazy.”
UFC 225 takes place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on June 9th. In the main event, Robert Whittaker will attempt to defend his UFC middleweight title against Yoel Romero, whilst Rafael dos Anjos will face Colby Covington for the interim welterweight title in the co-main event.