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CM Punk has just signed with the UFC.
This isn’t the usual page-view mongering scheme MMA sites run during lulls just to drum up traffic. This is legit. We will be seeing CM Punk (whose real name is Phil Brooks) in the Octagon in the future.
Punk was present at UFC 181 to make the announcement in an interview with Joe Rogan. He said he’d fight at middleweight or weltereweight, though he didn’t reveal what camp he’d train out of. He currently trains with Rener and Ryon Gracie. He will make his Octagon debut in 2015.
To say this is a massive announcement is a bigger understatement than saying Dana White has a swearing problem. This is huge. How huge? Maybe not Brock Lesnar huge but certainly the shot in the arm in regards to starpower the post-Lesnar, post-GSP UFC needed right now.
Being a 36-year-old with zero competitive athletic background (no, his status as a BJJ hobbyist doesn’t count), Punk’s chances of succeeding in MMA are dubious. Still, Punk’s presence on the roster will almost definitely lift the UFC’s sagging PPV sales, even if his athletic merit is nonexistent.