When CM Punk reflects on the surreal moment of fighting in the UFC, he feels a mix of satisfaction and bewilderment.
The former WWE champion and pro wrestling star made his octagon debut with no MMA experience in 2016. Punk started training in early 2015 with Duke Roufus, who coached the likes of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and top welterweight contender Belal Muhammad.
Although Punk’s short stint in the UFC didn’t go well – a quick submission loss to Mickey Gall followed by a lackluster unanimous decision loss to Mike Jackson that was later overturned when Jackson tested positive for marijuana – he’s happy to have taken the chance.
“I asked my wife the other day, because I said something, I was just like, ‘Yeah, what was I, like, 35 when I fought?’ And she was just like, ‘Oh no, you were like 36 or 37,'” Punk said on “The MMA Hour.” “And I just went, ‘What the f*ck was I thinking?’ I’m glad I did it. Zero regrets. I shouldn’t have fought in Chicago, because they were like the worst two weeks of my life. Easily the worst two weeks of my life. I couldn’t cut weight properly, you know, but I still made weight.
“I’m proud of myself for that. But, yeah, I’m an ambitious guy. …But I get it, like it’s easy to ‘LOL,’ make fun of me. You know what I mean? And some people look at that and be like, ‘Oh, that’s embarrassing.’ Like I suck. I made the weight, I made the walk, I’m 100 percent proud of myself, and I would do it again because that was me at my absolute worst, and I did it. I’m tenacious. I’m tough if I’m not. If you want to call me a loser, that’s cool. But I was stoked I got that opportunity, and I was stoked I did it.”
Punk was 37 when he fought Gall and 39 when he fought Jackson at UFC 225 in his hometown of Chicago. Heading into his fight with Jackson, Punk was in the midst of a defamation lawsuit filed by a WWE doctor against him and pro wrestler Colt Cabana, in which he found himself in the courtroom. He pleaded not guilty just days before he made the walk against Jackson and won the case.
