CM Punk Details The Reason Behind His Unsuccessful UFC Career

Published 12/14/2020, 7:00 AM EST

CM Punk has been out of in-ring action since 2018. In his last fight with Mike Jackson, he lost by unanimous decision. However, CM Punk stated recently that he wanted to pursue UFC from 2011.

CM Punk’s WWE contract initially expired in 2011. However, he got an extension for 3 years before being controversially released from WWE. In a recent episode of Renee Paquette’s podcast, CM Punk revealed details about his WWE-UFC career.

Citing a constant “on-the-road” lifestyle, Punk said, “I had planned on leaving when my deal was up at the end of 2010 or 2011. That was my plan because I always thought if I was going to train, it was never going to be a hobby for me. So, the idea was, I was going to leave.”

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Renee then revealed Punk initially wanted to do amateur fights before going in for the main show. To this, Punk agreed and said, “I needed time off anyway, but I would just devote a lot of time to full-time training. At that time, I wasn’t a big enough name where somebody was just going to be like, ‘Hey, it’s a spectacle.”

Despite being one of the top stars in WWE, Punk decided to train especially for UFC, “It’s a freak show. Everyone wants to watch you fight.’ So, I was just going to do it… ‘the right way.’ I was going to train. I was going to do amateur fights. I was just going to take my life in a different direction just because I wanted to do it.”

He wanted to pursue an MMA career before he became “too old.” But he never got the chance due to WWE work obligations.

CM Punk finally addresses his UFC critics

After his loss to Mike Jackson, Punk’s lackluster performance in UFC disappointed many fans. He addressed how fans thought he did everything for money.

“‘Do the work that I did to get to the point where somebody would offer you that kind of money because there would be an audience to see you fight.’ 73 Twitter followers don’t equate to a million-dollar payday to fight. But like I said, everybody’s path’s different. And then I guess I got a little hot there at the end of my run in WWE,” Punk recalled. “And I was faced with an opportunity.”

After his WWE contract got an extension, he never felt the urge to do it full time.

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“It was re-signed for three more years even though I was already shot. I was already pretty mentally and physically exhausted, and I obviously re-signed, and then that kind of delayed everything for another three years. The idea was, ‘Let’s do this before you get too old.’ God d**n it, turns out I was too old.'”

However, he still hopes to fight in the UFC. He came back to WWE programming last year with WWE Backstage before the program was suspended this year.

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Angana Roy is a WWE and AEW author for EssentiallySports, having published more than 800 professional wrestling articles. She is currently pursuing higher studies in English language and literature from the University of Calcutta and has over three years of experience in journalism. As a life-long fan of the sports entertainment brand of pro-wrestling, her work consists of live coverage of weekly shows, PPVs, speculating the future course of storylines and everything in between.

CM Punk Details The Reason Behind His Unsuccessful UFC Career

CM Punk finally addresses his UFC critics

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