We are T-minus eight days from CM Punk’s professional cage fighting debut, as he will step into the octagon on September 10 against Mickey Gall as part of UFC 203 in Cleveland. And with fight week fast approaching, Punk’s media presence has ramped up accordingly. He spoke about looking forward to the fight being over, having a mental advantage over Gall and even shared a surprising story about Nate Diaz from UFC 200. Oh, and then there’s that four-part documentary covering his every move.
But if you think Punk had run out of things to say, think again: In the official media call for UFC 203 yesterday, the Straight Edge Savior had plenty of words to share, whether it was how he sees his fight with Gall going down (“I definitely see myself winning, and if I had to pick, I’d pick TKO”), if he’ll be one-and-done (“I have a decent-sized amount of fights on my contract and I’m looking forward to doing [more]”), and, of course, the haters (“There’s people who wanna see me win, and there’s people who wanna see me fail… The people who wanna see me lose, if I could take a page out of my old job, it doesn’t really matter if they’re booing or they’re cheering as long as they’re loud and invested in the fight”).
Of course, Punk was questioned about his time in WWE, and true to form, he spoke his mind. First, he was asked if he missed cutting promos, as there has been a distinct lack of trash talk leading up to UFC 203.
“I don’t see the need for it. People either love me or hate me already. I’m not trying to talk anyone into the building this time. The allure is just the fact that it’s happening. The story writes itself. It’s not a fabricated thing where I need to create some drama between me and Mickey. We’re gonna fight. That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t need to be a weird, verbal pissing contest.”
Next, he gave more thoughts on the whole Conor McGregor vs. the WWE locker room feud. Previously, he said his former co-workers “got worked” by McGregor, but now, he’s not so sure.
“The amount of people who responded to [McGregor] makes me feel like they were told to respond to him. He’s the biggest name in sports at the moment, so there’s always gray areas when you involve that whole scene and you’re wondering, ‘Is this a work, is it not a work?’ A lot of feelings were hurt, though, I can tell you that much — I thought that was a little strange. You gotta leave emotion out of it. These guys still don’t know.”
Lastly, he was asked about the differences between UFC and WWE, and Punk couldn’t have been more blunt in his response.
“Carrying an entire company on your shoulders, for lack of a better description — after a while, it sucks. This is more relaxed, focus on yourself. I’m not worrying about what everyone else is doing. I’m not worried about pay-per-view numbers and buyrates and ratings and merchandise sales. I focus on one thing and one thing only, and that’s myself.”
Win or lose, one thing’s for sure: CM Punk will always speak his mind.
