Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) run aged poorly as it was happening.
2016 was a crazy year for mixed martial arts (MMA) and UFC. The promotion had its big UFC 200 event, Ronda Rousey fought for the final time, Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz battled twice, and professional wrestler, Brooks, attempted to become the new Brock Lesnar.
Unfortunately for Brooks, he’d lost embarrassingly via a first round rear-naked choke against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September 2016. The Chicago, Ill., native eventually returned for his second and final fight against Mike Jackson in 2018. He lost that bout as well (initially). Although the unanimous decision result was overturned because of Jackson’s failed drug test for marijuana, Brooks still made out with at least $1 million from his UFC stint.
One of the most dominant champions of all time, Demetrious Johnson, was in the middle of his historic reign when Punk fought and remembers the motivation it brought him.
“A big spit in the face of all the champions,” Johnson said of Brook’s UFC payouts on his YouTube channel. “At the end of the day, it’s more of a popularity contest that gets you the money in mixed martial arts than actual skill.
“A gentleman who is 0-1 in mixed martial arts, making $500,000 [per fight],” he continued. “Obviously, he made that money because of his wrestling history. I’m not gonna lie to you guys, this put a chip on my shoulder, and a bad taste in my mouth because I was doing mixed martial arts my whole entire life and the most I ever made in the UFC was like $380,000 plus $40,000. It’s all public record.”
Johnson, 37, is still one of the best fighters on the planet despite being in the twilight of his career as the 135-pound ONE Championship Flyweight titleholder. Like Brooks, Johnson’s last UFC fight was also in 2018 when he lost a split decision in his rematch with Henry Cejudo at UFC 227 in April. Johnson is 5-1 in pure MMA bouts (25-4-1 overall) since his UFC departure while the 45-year-old Punk has returned to the professional wrestling world and rejoined WWE in 2023.
“These guys belong in the amateur league,” Johnson said while rewatching Brooks vs. Mike Jackson. “They haven’t honed their skills enough yet in mixed martial arts to be on a platform like this. Every once in a while, you have these fights where you give people an opportunity to do something, and this is what you get. This belongs in an amateur-level fight [league].
“But I bet CM Punk beats him in WWE wrestling,” he concluded.