CM Punk describes his encounter with Nate Diaz at UFC 200, claiming that ‘he was the nicest fu**ing guy’.
CM Punk’s signing with the UFC wasn’t particularly well received. After signing with the organization in 2014, most fans and fighters ridiculed the move and believed Punk — or Phil Brooks — was out of his element.
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 7, 2014
Nate Diaz, who seemed stunned by the news, also claimed that Punk’s move from WWE to UFC was ‘horrible for the sport’.
Punk collided with Diaz backstage at UFC 200 but, to his surprise, Diaz had nothing but kind words to say.
“UFC 200 I was doing an autograph signing and the guy I was signing the autograph for started like pointing behind me and I heard someone like yelling my name and I turned around and I was on a riser and Nate Diaz was on the ground and he was like ‘hey man come here’,” Punk said, per Damon Martin of FOX Sports. “I was like ‘what’s up?’ and he was the nicest (expletive) guy.
“I don’t know if he’ll get mad and this will ruin the image of Nate Diaz, but he was like ‘hey man, I talked some (expletive) before and I don’t know you and I’m sorry’ and he’s like, ‘Gilbert (Melendez) and Ronda (Rousey) said that you’re a cool dude and they love you’ and I started looking around for the cameras. I was like all right. I thought that was super, super cool of him. Super nice guy.”
Brooks, 37, will make his long-awaited MMA debut at UFC 203. The former WWE champion will take on budding welterweight prospect Mickey Gall, who won his first UFC bout via 1st round submission in February.
The pay-per-view, which will feature a heavyweight champion fight between Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem in the main event, takes place September 10 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.