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CM Punk: Talk of an MMA Career Is Irrelevant Until He Says Otherwise

Have you heard?
Some guy who you probably don’t know is thinking about maybe possibly taking up a sport he’s never tried before. Professionally.
Seriously. He is.
And some people are already looking to pay him to do it, while others are suggesting coac…

Have you heard?

Some guy who you probably don’t know is thinking about maybe possibly taking up a sport he’s never tried before. Professionally.

Seriously. He is.

And some people are already looking to pay him to do it, while others are suggesting coaches and possible adversaries for him.

I know, man. It’s crazy.

If what you see above seems kind of stupid, there’s a good reason for that: It is.

It’s very stupid, in fact—the type of runaround hearsay and dialogue you’d anticipate from that co-worker you don’t like or your girlfriend’s brother who kind of sucks.

It’s also a pretty accurate distillation of all the talk about pro wrestling’s CM Punk making a jump to mixed martial arts after he recently left WWE. People are running around with genuine enthusiasm at the prospect of this guy, who they don’t know, taking up a sport he has no experience in. Professionally.

Now, sure, there’s nothing really wrong with that fact. Any positive buzz that brings crossover eyes is fundamentally a good thing for MMA, and Punk (real name Phil Brooks, from now on addressed as such) going from fan to fighter is definitely generating buzz.

But in finding a promotional fit, a coaching staff and a first fight for the guy, the MMA world is ignoring the most important part of it all: Brooks hasn’t said a word about MMA since he left WWE.

This prospective MMA career is, in the most literal way imaginable, completely speculative.

So why is it a headline to rival dual Nova Uniao title defenses at UFC 169 or a potential title eliminator between Gegard Mousasi and Lyoto Machida this weekend? What makes people so fixated on this guy, an MMA neophyte if we’re being generous, and his desire to pick a caged fistfight on a Saturday night?

It’s probably a number of things.

Perhaps most notably, the last true wrestling megastar to hit MMA was Brock Lesnar, and we all recall how that turned out: lots of cash for everyone involved, a big gold belt for Lesnar and a constant source of copy for the media.

Desire to recapture that, in spite of Brooks being older than Lesnar at the start of this potential MMA endeavor and far less experienced as a combat athlete, could play a factor for promoters, fans and media alike.

Also, Brooks, at least in his Punk persona, has an undeniable charisma that saw him rocket to the top of pro wrestling despite constant concerns about his size, appearance and attitude. Though not to the level of Lesnar before him, he can capture mainstream attention, and he has the type of magnetism that makes people want to watch him.

There’s also the list of other pro wrestlers who have competed in MMA, such as Dave Bautista and Bobby Lashley, who make the case for Brooks to be able to dive in at a lower level and perhaps get a little work in to see where things go.

The reasons exist as to why this saga is so appealing to the masses, for sure. However until Brooks himself makes his intentions known, the talk is totally irrelevant.

He could be back in a WWE ring by March if he works out his issues with the company.

He could be off doing movies or wrestling independent shows.

He could be sitting in his home in Chicago twiddling his thumbs and enjoying life, because he was smart with his money in ways some pro wrestlers aren’t, and he doesn’t need the business the way some guys do.

No one knows because he hasn’t said anything, and that’s why this MMA talk is an egregious waste of time.

Would 0-0 MMA competitor and former WWE star Phil Brooks taking a fight be interesting if it happened? Absolutely. Pro wrestlers are—bar none—the most underrated athletes in sports (or sports entertainment), and with time to build on his existing skills there’s no question it would be worth paying attention to.

But as of now it isn’t happening, and there isn’t any inclination that it ever will. Not from Brooks, not from insiders, not from anyone.

So let’s all agree to let this one lie for a while and focus on things that are actually happening in the cage. And if we can’t do that, let’s at least try to focus on things relevant to actual MMA competitors as opposed to guys who might want to try fighting some time. Walk into any gym in the world and you can find a dozen guys who might want to try fighting some time.

Regardless of star power or exposure, Brooks is just another one of those guys as of now. He should be treated as such until he tells us otherwise.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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Why Does MMA Care About CM Punk?

(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Did you hear? CM Punk might be headed to MMA.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard until just now, it’s not as if MMA news outlets have been talking about it at all recently.

So, in case you missed it, here’s what happened:

In an interview with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, famed straight edge pro wrestler and former WWE champ CM Punk expressed an interest in taking an MMA fight, as well as thoughts about his doubtful future with the WWE. Punk left the WWE not long after this interview.

To MMA fans and pundits, the urge to connect the dots was too great. Punk departed the WWE shortly after he mentioned MMA. Therefore, he MUST have left the WWE to start fighting.

Cue the insanity.

(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Did you hear? CM Punk might be headed to MMA.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard until just now, it’s not as if MMA news outlets have been talking about it at all recently.

So, in case you missed it, here’s what happened:

To MMA fans and pundits, the urge to connect the dots was too great. Punk departed the WWE shortly after he mentioned MMA. Therefore, he MUST have left the WWE to start fighting.

Cue the insanity.

Rampant speculation about CM Punk, his MMA abilities, his MMA “career” and his potential opponent—which many slated as former Power Ranger Jason David Frank since Frank issued a public challenge to Punk—polluted MMA headlines across the Internet.

You know what’s worse? Legit MMA promotions took this seriously. Bellator “expressed at least preliminary interest” in the weather-beaten 35-year-old professional wrestler. WSOF’s bombastic vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz, too, boarded the CM Punk hype train.

A whole lot of hype for something we knew for years already. In December 2012, Punk admitted that he’d tangle with the Green Ranger in an MMA fight if the opportunity arose. Earlier that year the former WWE superstar discussed potentially entering the MMA landscape.

Where was the egregious amount of hype then?

MMA didn’t need it quite as much when CM Punk first announced that an MMA fight was on his bucket list. There’s just not a whole lot of interest in the day-to-day affairs of MMA like there was in the past. Look at the numbers for the most recent TUF season—they’re horrific. Fans don’t care about low/mid-level UFC fighters and even some high level UFC fighters. We live in an era where one of the only ways to draw big interest (and big traffic) is to tease Brock Lesnar’s UFC return for the umpteenth time. GSP is gone and Zuffa is apparently going to bury him sooner rather than later. Rousey can always generate buzz, but Hollywood is poaching that cash cow. Talking grand about CM Punk fighting for real is one of the only ways to brighten the drudgery of “Two C-level guys got added to some UFC fight pass card in who cares where. Please donate your click” articles.

And regarding Punk’s actual future in MMA, he doesn’t have one. He’s a 35-year-old ex-pro wrestler with no combat sports experience (he’s trained, yes, but hasn’t competed). At best, he’ll participate in a handful of fights that get lots of hype and then retire from competition after fulfilling yet another goal in life while MMA media members roast him, a novice MMA fighter, for looking like a novice MMA fighter.

Bellator MMA Interested in CM Punk, Green Power Ranger Asks for Fight

CM Punk made the Internet explode last week after he left the WWE for undisclosed reasons. If Bellator MMA has its way, it will be the one making rounds on the web before long.
Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required) …

CM Punk made the Internet explode last week after he left the WWE for undisclosed reasons. If Bellator MMA has its way, it will be the one making rounds on the web before long.

Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required) (h/t Bloody Elbow) has the details surrounding a potential Bellator-Punk partnership:

Bellator has already expressed at least preliminary interest in him. He would be free and clear of any WWE contractual obligations in July….

I get the impression a part of him would like to do it the same way Batista did it as a bucket list thing. With Batista, it seemed on the surface to be a real bad risk, but in the end, he did it and wasn’t hurt at all. With Punk, on the surface, it would seem the same thing. A theoretical big risk….

Most MMA fans would scoff at the idea of the former WWE champion fighting in the cage, but Rener Gracie, Punk’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu trainer, told Fox Sports that his student has unlimited potential should he choose to go that route.

But who would Punk’s opponent be if he participated in a pro MMA bout?

Jason David Frank, best known as the Green Ranger from the 1990s hit show Power Rangers, took to Instagram to post a call-out of sorts, saying he would be interested in throwing down with the self-proclaimed “best in the world.”

So now that CM punk is out of his contracts and wants to do MMA. Why not me? He already said he fight me. I got this on video from a fan. Come on CM punk we could make this a awesome fight. Plus his weight is way down. … I’ll make any weight to make this happen!!

The video Frank is referring to was posted on Youtube back in December 2012 (h/t SB Nation). When asked about a potential matchup with the Green Ranger, Punk’s response was: “Sure, why not?”

Frank sports a 1-0 professional record and a 3-0 amateur record in MMA, but he hasn’t fought since 2010, according to Sherdog.

Punk, 35, has trained with the Gracies throughout his career, but he’s also well beyond the age when most fighters start their MMA careers and has over a decade of wear and tear on his body. As any pro wrestler can attest, their profession is very physically taxing despite the fact that its matches are staged.

If Bellator puts this fight together, it would likely be the biggest matchup the promotion could muster outside of a third bout between lightweights Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler. Particularly after Bellator’s first pay-per-view attempt fell apart following an injury to former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, a big-name bout between Punk and Frank would be a smart move to grow its brand.

There’s no doubt Punk would enjoy the crossover appeal that former UFC heavyweight champion and WWE champion Brock Lesnar did, albeit with a smaller fan base. On the other hand, Punk would severely damage his reputation if he were to be defeated, particularly against a former teenage TV star.

The fight probably won’t come together due to contractual issues, commissions and other out-of-the-cage hangups, but Bellator’s interest shows that Punk has the option of joining a number of MMA promotions outside of the UFC.

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Rener Gracie: CM Punk’s MMA Potential Has ‘No Limit’

The WWE world was lit afire this week when CM Punk walked out of the company due to frustrations and the wear and tear the pro wrestling schedule has had on his body and mind. It is a story overshadowing everything else in the wrestling world at this p…

In talking with Ariel Helwani last week, CM Punk said there is some interest in competing in MMA once he is done wrestling. With his exit from the company happening this week, that possibility seems closer to reality, assuming his walk out of the company isn’t a work (which it appears it isn’t).

With Punk’s potential to join the MMA scene, one big name has jumped aboard the CM Punk train. That man is Rener Gracie.

Rener, one of the legendary Brazilian jiu-jitsu-based Gracies, spoke out on how he thinks Punk could do in moving from the squared circle to the cage.

“With the little time he’s had with me spread out over so many years, he’s made remarkable progress. There’s no telling how successful he would be if he devoted himself full time to the training…He can go get some fights, knock some fools out and choke some dudes…If he dedicates himself full time, there is no limit, he has the intangibles.”

That is a big endorsement from Gracie, who also called Punk a “sponge” when it comes to picking things up in the gym.

Once again, all reports of Punk walking out of WWE have to be taken with a word of caution. In the world of pro wrestling, you never know when something is real or part of a storyline.

Should Punk make it into the world of MMA, it would be interesting to see how he does.

Punk has trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and muay thai for a while now, though he hasn’t been able to train full-time due to his hellish wrestling schedule. As seen in Punk’s wrestling arsenal, he uses a number of techniques seen in MMA such as flying knees, kicks and submission holds on the ground.

Time will tell what to make of this story. However, with Punk’s star power and the legitimate feeling about this walkout on WWE, Punk could easily be an outside attraction in MMA as Brock Lesnar and Herschel Walker were when they first took to the cage.

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The Green Ranger, Jason David Frank, Calls Out Anderson Silva and CM Punk

Jason David Frank, the Green Ranger from the hit TV show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, wants to step into the cage against former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and WWE superstar CM Punk.
Frank’s name alone brings a warm, fuzzy f…

Jason David Frank, the Green Ranger from the hit TV show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, wants to step into the cage against former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva and WWE superstar CM Punk.

Frank’s name alone brings a warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia to the hearts of every ’90s kid who had the pleasure of watching him kick butt every Saturday morning.

He recently attended a panel at New York Comic Con alongside former cast member Dr. Jason Narvy, otherwise known as Skull. According to IGN.com, Frank challenged CM Punk to an MMA fight and Silva to a sparring match:

I love CM Punk, he’s a really nice guy. But he did say in his panel that he would fight me and you can’t say that in the fighting world if you don’t mean that you’d fight me. Let’s get a contract going! I also want to spar Anderson Silva for a fundraiser but I don’t hear back from anybody!

Now, Frank isn’t some pampered Hollywood actor feigning as a fighter, despite only being in a few street scraps with putties. In MMA, he boasts a 4-0 amateur record and a 1-0 professional record, and all of his wins have come by either knockout or submission in the first round.

The 40-year-old is also a seventh-degree black belt in karate and a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Punk has mentioned several times that he would be interested in trying his hand at MMA. During an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani in 2012, he stated that his age and being locked into a WWE contract were the only things keeping him from stepping into the cage.

Perhaps a bout against the Frank would be enough to rouse his interest. After all, the former power ranger is six years his elder.

As for Silva, a sparring match is the only logical choice for Frank. In an actual fight, it would take all of Frank’s rainbow-colored companions and the Dragonzord to overcome arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.

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WWE Champ CM Punk Talks UFC 158, Says Rampage Jackson Will Lose at UFC on Fox 6

More than most professional wrestlers, WWE Champion CM Punk definitely knows a thing or two about mixed martial arts.That’s why when UFC on Fox 6 goes down in the Chicago, the hometown of the “Straight Edge Superstar,” Punk be watching the MMA news cir…

More than most professional wrestlers, WWE Champion CM Punk definitely knows a thing or two about mixed martial arts.

That’s why when UFC on Fox 6 goes down in the Chicago, the hometown of the “Straight Edge Superstar,” Punk be watching the MMA news circuit with keen interest as he makes his own preparations for the 2013 Royal Rumble.

MMA Fighting caught up with Punk to pick the champion’s brain about a few hot issues in the MMA world, including his predictions for Saturday’s card, the main event at UFC 158 and a few other fighters that he’s been watching.

Never one to shy away from talking about superfights, CM Punk cited Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz as the one thing that’s interested him most in MMA recently. However, he doesn’t think the Stockton bad boy will pull off an upset:

I’m looking forward to GSP [and] Nick Diaz. Can Diaz hang with [St-Pierre]? Sure. Can he beat him? I don’t know. I definitely think he can hang. I always think GSP’s problem is—when’s the last time he finished a guy? That was a long time ago.

I’m a Carlos Condit fan. That’s why I’m looking forward to that PPV, too. I think Rory MacDonald’s nuts. He’s got this personal beef with Condit for no reason. ‘Just because he beat him.

For UFC on Fox 6, Punk noted that Quinton Jackson would most likely lose his co-main event fight due to his developing, habitual weakness to wrestling:

Both [Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson] are ridiculously fast. I know they’re trying to promote that Dodson has the knockout power that a lot of flyweights don’t have, so it’s going to be interesting to see. I like Demetrious [to win].

Rampage has always been kind of wacky. I think Rampage is going to want to stand, so Glover’s going to try to win. So, that means Glover’s going take him down. I’ll pick Glover.

Punk additionally singled out Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone as the match he’s most excited about, breaking down their strengths and recent bouts.

Although Cerrone lost in dramatic fashion to Nate Diaz not long ago, Punk believes that “Cowboy” is simply too strong a fighter to pick against going into this title eliminator:

That’s an interesting fight. I don’t think there’s a harder one to take a bet on. This is one that I wish was five rounds, because I don’t think three’s enough. I don’t see either guy finishing any other guys. When Cerrone fought Nate Diaz, it was a completely different Donald Cerrone. It was like he kinda got tooled.

But then [Cerrone] KOs Melvin Guillard… and Pettis, he’s a Milwaukee boy, so that’s close to Chicago. I almost don’t want to bet against him. [It’s] strictly a gut feeling, but [I pick] Cerrone.

CM Punk also showed hometown solidarity by predicting Chicago-born Ricardo Lamas to beat Eric Koch, although he admitted not knowing too much about either featherweight.

For his part, CM Punk will be a longshot to win his own bout on Sunday, as he meets Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a singles match for the WWE Championship.

This will be the first time that The Rock has competed for a championship belt in World Wrestling Entertainment since 2002, when lost the title to Brock Lesnar, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Undisputed WWE Champion.

For CM Punk, this match will also put one of his most prized career records at stake, as his WWE Championship reign stands as the sixth-longest in the company’s history. In the last 25 years alone, Punk has retained the title for 433 days, an accomplishment that he’ll seek to continue building by defeating The Rock.

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