Tag: cm punk

CM Punk Tweets After Announcement of UFC 225 in Chicago

CM Punk tweeted Saturday after the UFC announced that UFC 225 will be held in Chicago on June 9.
With the following post, Punk suggested he might have interest in being part of the card:

Punk is a Chicago native who hasn’t competed since UFC 203 in Se…

CM Punk tweeted Saturday after the UFC announced that UFC 225 will be held in Chicago on June 9.

With the following post, Punk suggested he might have interest in being part of the card:

Punk is a Chicago native who hasn’t competed since UFC 203 in September 2016. He lost that bout to Mickey Gall by submission in the first round.

Since that defeat, the 39-year-old Punk’s UFC career has been in flux.

Shortly after Punk’s loss, UFC President Dana White said on UFC Tonight that he didn’t envision the former WWE Superstar having another fight in his promotion (h/t Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog.com): “Is CM Punk going to be a guy who is going to stay in the UFC and continue to fight? Probably not. But he wanted to try it. I like the guy. I respect the guy. He wanted to fight in the UFC. He wanted to do it. He trained for two years, and he did it.”

In January, however, White seemed to have a change of heart.

He told the Associated Press he was “working on” the second fight for Punk and added (h/t ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto), “I like that guy. He’s a good dude. He wants to give it another shot. I’m going to give it to him.”

UFC 225 will be the first UFC pay-per-view held in Chicago, and getting a hometown favorite like Punk on the card could help generate interest regardless of who else is set to fight.

Punk is still searching for success inside the Octagon, but as a five-time WWE world champion, he has big-time name recognition despite his limitations as a fighter.

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CM Punk Falls to Stone Cold Stunner During Training (Video)

Even when he’s away from the squared circle, CM Punk can’t avoid finishing moves. If you can’t count on sparring partners to rib you, then who can you count on? Punk and Ben Askren have worked closely together since the former sports …

Even when he’s away from the squared circle, CM Punk can’t avoid finishing moves. If you can’t count on sparring partners to rib you, then who can you count on? Punk and Ben Askren have worked closely together since the former sports entertainer decided to dabble in mixed martial arts. Video from 2016 has recently […]

Dana White Confirms CM Punk Will Return To UFC

CM Punk’s MMA debut happened to also be his UFC debut, and it wasn’t much of a surprise when he lost that fight to Mickey Gall back at September 2016’s UFC 203. Even though Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, took an absolute beating, the former WWE superstar wants another shot in the Octagon. […]

The post Dana White Confirms CM Punk Will Return To UFC appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

CM Punk’s MMA debut happened to also be his UFC debut, and it wasn’t much of a surprise when he lost that fight to Mickey Gall back at September 2016’s UFC 203.

Even though Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, took an absolute beating, the former WWE superstar wants another shot in the Octagon.

UFC President Dana White told The Associated Press that he’s aware Punk wants another MMA fight, and appears more than willing to give him one:

“I like that guy, he’s a good dude. He wants one more. He wants to get another shot. I’m going to give it to him. He’s a completely different case than most normal human beings, so I’m going to give him another shot.”

Punk made a slow transition from professional wrestling to mixed martial arts, training under Duke Rufus’ academy for a year and a half before his first fight was even announced. It turns out that a crash course in fighting isn’t enough to win on the world’s biggest stage, regardless of the 18 months Punk put in.

White refrained from getting into specifics like a potential opponent or a timeline, but one thing is for sure – CM Punk wants to fight again, and with White’s blessing, we’re going to see Punk fight in the UFC again.

Punk (0-1) is one of two high-profile WWE wrestlers to make the plunge into MMA. The other had a much more measured degree of success, even if it was short-lived in a sense. Brock Lesnar won the heavyweight title from Randy Couture back in 2008. Punk competes in the welterweight division.

Would you like to see CM Punk try his hand at MMA again? Who would be an ideal opponent, if there is one?

The post Dana White Confirms CM Punk Will Return To UFC appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Dana White Says CM Punk Wants to Fight; WWE’s Jack Gallagher Issues Challenge

CM Punk is eying a return to the Octagon, UFC President Dana White confirmed Friday.
Speaking with the Associated Press’ Dan Gelston, White said Punk wants to fight again in UFC and that the company plans to follow through on that aim.
“I like that guy…

CM Punk is eying a return to the Octagon, UFC President Dana White confirmed Friday.

Speaking with the Associated Press’ Dan Gelston, White said Punk wants to fight again in UFC and that the company plans to follow through on that aim.

“I like that guy. He’s a good dude,” White said. “He wants one more. He wants to get another shot. I’m going to give it to him.”

White added it remains to be seen whom Punk would fight. WWE cruiserweight star Gentleman Jack Gallagher threw his name in the hat while also throwing shade at Punk for his first-round defeat to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September 2016:

On merit, there’s little reason to give Punk another fight in UFC. He lasted 2:14 before submitting to a rear-naked choke by Gall. According to UFC.com, Gall landed 26 total strikes and 20 significant strikes, while Punk had six and zero, respectively in those categories.

But Punk’s star power makes him an attractive prospect for the company.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via MMAPayout.com), UFC 203 had the second-biggest buyrate (475,000) on a pay-per-view card without either Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey in 2016. UFC 200 had a little over one million PPV buys, and that event included Daniel Cormier, Brock Lesnar and Anderson Silva.

Punk brings UFC extra mainstream appeal at a time when the company is somewhat starved for fighters with broad popularity outside MMA.

Speaking with Gelston, White admitted he’s unsure whether McGregor will ever fight in UFC again after he made at least $30 million from his fight with Floyd Mayweather. Rousey‘s MMA career appears to be over as well. Meanwhile, Jon Jones is facing a multiyear suspension after failing a drug test.

Even though Punk’s second fight would likely provide fewer financial returns than his debut, putting him back in the Octagon is one way for UFC to guarantee itself a solid buyrate.

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CM Punk Challenged by Amateur Fighter Willing to Bet Paycheck He’d Win by KO

On Wednesday, amateur fighter Matt Bilella Fitzpatrick challenged former WWE Superstar and current UFC fighter CM Punk to a bout with an added caveat.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Fitzpatrick appealed to UFC President Dana White and expressed …

On Wednesday, amateur fighter Matt Bilella Fitzpatrick challenged former WWE Superstar and current UFC fighter CM Punk to a bout with an added caveat.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, Fitzpatrick appealed to UFC President Dana White and expressed confidence that he can stop Punk if given the opportunity: “Dana White, if you’re listening … I’ll put up my entire paycheck if I don’t knock him the f–k out.”

In Punk’s MMA debut at UFC 203 in September 2016, he lost decisively by submission to Mickey Gall.

 

This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

 

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Ever-Improving Mixed Martial Artist CM Punk Gets BJJ Blue Belt

Breaking news this week in the world of guys who are on the UFC roster but probably shouldn’t be: Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is now a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Say whatever you want about the guy—and most in MMA have not been shy about&nb…

Breaking news this week in the world of guys who are on the UFC roster but probably shouldn’t be: Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is now a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Say whatever you want about the guy—and most in MMA have not been shy about doing just that—but never say he’s not committed to his craft.

The story of Punk as a UFC star is old hat at this point.

He left the glamorous world of professional wrestling, where he was a champion and face of WWE, at the peak of his success.

He signed with the UFC in late 2014 despite having no formal athletic pedigree whatsoever, and a dubious martial arts pedigree founded on childhood karate and some drop-ins at the Gracie Academy.

Punk suffered a number of injury setbacks on his way to a 2016 debut against young gun Mickey Gall at UFC 203, a bout in which he was utterly mauled.

And still he keeps coming.

At 0-1 and with no amateur fights to his name, all Punk can do is keep grinding in the gym and hoping to improve enough to get himself another UFC fight. As recently as this past summer, word was floating around that he was hoping to fight again soon, and this most recent development supports that.

Famous pro wrestling announcer Jim Ross would routinely proclaim that a man had “more guts than brains” when entering the ring against impossible odds, and if you rolled back the tapes he may have even said it about Punk during his WWE tenure.

The devoted, oddly respectable insistence he now has of becoming as good a martial artist as he can as a relative neophyte at the tender age of 39 years old is proof of that.

                  

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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