CM Punk was on hand in Las Vegas for the big Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes fight at UFC 189, and took the time to do a media scrum and update everyone on his progress.
“Believe it or not, and I don’t ask, but everybody asks Duke [Roufus] ‘how is he doing?’ And Duke tells everybody that he thinks that my best area right now, is striking, believe it or not. Which is mind boggling to me. Striking was the one thing that I never did.”
“I’ve hit mitts before. I’ve done boxing and stuff like that. But all the nuances you need to know, and everything you need to do with your feet and your head, just movement, the correct movement. That’s been the most challenging thing, aside from wrestling. But Duke says I’m doing okay, and Duke won’t lie to me.”
This is a bit of a surprise, considering Punk came into this whole UFC thing off a couple years of jiu jitsu training with Rener Gracie. But the Roufusport camp is known for its strikers (Anthony Pettis, Alan Belcher, and Pat Barry all cut their teeth under Duke Roufus), and Punk ended up there specifically to up his striking game. Sounds like it’s paying off.
As for when you can expect CM Punk in the cage? He’s still not giving any dates, instead saying his coaches will tell him when he’s ready. But when he signed with UFC, the tentative debut date was expected to be sometime towards the end of 2015. Tick tock, Punk.
(via The Fight Network)