You’re just jealous.
It’s a stock response to criticism, and it’s probably as old as criticism itself. Is it accurate? That depends on the situation.
If you ask Ben Askren, it’s an appropriate response to those lobbing vitriol at his training teammate, Phil Brooks—more commonly known by his professional wrestling moniker, CM Punk.
The ONE Championship welterweight title holder, widely considered one of MMA‘s best welterweights outside the UFC, recently said in an interview with Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting that Punk’s critics—and there are many of them—are attacking the former WWE champ because they envy his celebrity lifestyle.
“He’s been famous, he’s made a lot of money, he’s got a hot wife,” Askren said. “There’s a lot of things about him that people would probably be jealous of. I would guess that’s it.”
Punk, 37, left the world of professional wrestling and signed a UFC contract last December. The former WWE star, who has never formally competed in MMA, and UFC officials both received criticism because the move appeared to be an attempt by both parties to capitalize on Punk’s name and status, rather than a meaningful effort to foster high-level MMA competition.
In the 10 months since, Punk does not appear to have come any closer to being UFC-ready, and in October he announced he had injured his shoulder while training at Roufusport, the high-profile Milwaukee training camp that serves as the home to Askren, former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and other top athletes.
Fans and pundits have not pulled many punches in criticizing Punk, who is active on social media and not above tweaking those who tweak him (tweet language NSFW).
And on the 8th day the lord said “be a jerk on the Internet, least he be a jerk unto you” or some s–t. https://t.co/AEVwSVNR0w
— Coach (@CMPunk) November 1, 2015
But the Punk vitriol has come from more places than just the sidelines. UFC fighter Cathal Pendred engaged Punk in a protracted Twitter battle (language NSFW), in which the Irish welterweight questioned Punk’s skill level and commitment to MMA, among other things. And Pendred was just one of many fighters to question the signing.
In any event, according to Askren, all of these individuals are just jealous. It’s an interesting perspective, given that Askren himself—who has a long-standing feud with the UFC and its president, Dana White, over various issues—knocked the signing before Punk joined Roufusport.
Still, Askren defended his teammate Sunday, saying Punk’s efforts to fight in the UFC are sincere.
“He’s in the gym all the time and he’s training all the time, so that would sure be a lot of effort to put into a publicity stunt,” Askren said. “You’d think if it was a publicity stunt he’d maybe show up once a week or once a month. For a while before he was injured, he was in there twice a day, every day.”
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