CM Punk has a message for all of the people blowing up his Twitter account with disparaging remarks about his upcoming UFC debut: If you don’t like it, “shut the f—k up and don’t watch the fight.”
It’s a simple and rational position for someone like Punk, a former WWE champion-turned-MMA fighter. When the cage door closes, all of the predictabilities and predestined outcomes from Punk’s former career as a professional wrestler will seem like a lifetime ago.
The Octagon, a hallowed eight-sided structure built to stage controlled violence, isn’t to be taken lightly. Fighters train a lifetime, honing their skills for an opportunity to step over the threshold into a world of elite talent.
It only makes sense that someone like Punk, a fighter with no competitive martial arts background, would have a hard time fitting into such a world.
When speaking with Sports Illustrated, Punk admitted he was embarking on this MMA journey for himself and no one else:
My attitude is punk rock across the board: ‘Oh, you don’t think I should do it?’ Well, I’m going to do it and I’m going to try to be the best I f—–g can. At the end of the day, it’s about me and not anyone else. But, yeah, I used to not be able to read or walk or ride a bike or drive a car. Those people who are down on me trying this? Shut the f— up and don’t watch the fight.
Punk, who turns 37 in October, is training alongside former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and ONE FC welterweight titleholder Ben Askren at Roufusport in Milwaukee.
The people who are mad or think this is an embarrassment to the UFC or the sport? I used to not be able to ride a bike. So when I was learning how to ride a bike, does Lance Armstrong come up to me and say: ‘Who the f–k are you, trying to learn how to ride a bike?’
Back in December, UFC President Dana White told Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com that Punk’s debut opponent would have similar professional fighting experience. Since that statement, everybody from retired NFL veteran Shawn Merriman to the green Power Ranger has challenged Punk to a fight.
Fans who are against the UFC signing Punk aren’t alone, as several fighters have also voiced their discontent over the situation. Nate Diaz in particular said, “I don’t dig it, he has got no fights,” during an interview with MMAJunkie.
The UFC has taken the controversial approach in the past by searching for non-traditional talent to create lucrative, buzzworthy fights. Brock Lesnar, James Toney and Kimbo Slice were all long shots from a prospective lens in the UFC, but they each had a fighting background to lean on.
Lesnar, an NCAA Division I wrestling champion, took an MMA bout at Dynamite!! USA before making his Octagon debut. Toney was already an established legend in the boxing community with more than 70 professional fights. Even Kimbo had experience fighting in the Elite XC, long before he was pounding opponents out like beef patties behind Miami fast-food establishments.
Punk, on the other hand, is a bit of a wild card, and the MMA world is stuck in the unknown. We don’t even know if the guy can actually fight.
But then again, isn’t that what makes the spectacle and showmanship side of MMA so exciting? No one knows what to expect until Punk walks down the aisle and steps into the cage. Maybe he gets knocked into another dimension and rethinks his newfound career path. Perhaps he puts together a few wins and proves a lot of people wrong.
At the end of the day, we all make choices, and just like Punk’s decision to become a UFC fighter, you can make it your choice not to watch him.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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