Mike Jackson Wants To Make Sure CM Punk Never Fights In UFC Again

Almost every Saturday night, Mike Jackson is cageside, capturing the brutal beauty of MMA frame by frame for Legacy Fighting Allliance, a promotion that’s given dozens of fighters their first stepping stone to the Octagon. In the days between shows, he’s training. An undefeated boxer and kickboxer, he’s spent the last decade honing is craft. When he’s not working on his skills, he’s podcasting about MMA, tweeting about MMA, and breathing MMA. Mike Jackson lives MMA.

In February of 2016, he got to live out a reality that someone who embodies the sport could only dream of: a chance to fight in the Octagon for the chance to fight the incoming CM Punk. In just over 45 seconds, the dream was over. Jackson was submitted by Mickey Gall, who would go on to destroy Punk in his UFC debut seven months later.

Since then, Jackson has been vocal, calling on Punk who also made it clear he wants another shot in the UFC. After months of scuttlebutt, callouts, questions of if Punk should even return, UFC 225 will see Phil “CM Punk” Brooks walk into the cage in his hometown of Chicago, and it will be against Jackson.

So how did we get here? And how weird is it that what will instantly be one of the strangest and most anticipated-matchups of the year officially came together under the shadow of Conor McGregor losing his mind and going on a rampage at the UFC 223 media day?

We spoke to Jackson about chasing Punk and his want of getting the former WWE world champion out of the Octagon forever.

UPROXX: First off, are you a little bummed out that your announcement got overshadowed by Conor McGregor losing his mind?

Mike Jackson: You know, I can’t even really describe it, because it’s one of those things. It’s like, “Yeah, you were upstaged by Conor McGregor” but then at the same time it’s like, “You were upstaged by Conor McGregor.” It’s one of those. Just the way he did everything. Obviously, I’m sure people know about it right now, but I get it. I don’t agree with his methods of how he went about things. But, honestly I understand where he’s coming from. I understand his life and what people fail to understand is that a few years ago, Conor McGregor was poor. He was living on the streets, or he wasn’t in a financial stable place that he is now. And really what it comes down to is, at his heart, Conor McGregor is still a thug. Look, I love Conor, it’s not to say I don’t like what he does or anything. Actually, I’m a huge fan of Conor McGregor. I ended up doing my Ancestry.com DNA, come and find out I’m like 12% Irish, it really just works out for me.

That’s hilarious.

Again, I understand where he’s coming from. You have Khabib (Nurmagomedov) who basically tried to big brother his man, Artem (Lobov), yesterday. And again, he still has that street mentality. In the streets, you can’t run up on someone from one gang or whatever, some territory, and you don’t expect there to be consequences for your actions. That’s literally what happened. It was just, you have Conor McGregor with this street mentality, and he basically brought the streets inside the UFC, is basically what happened. Again, I don’t agree with it, but I understand his issues.

How do you envision winning?

Knocking him out. I mean, here’s the thing. Going into the Mickey Gall fight, well, not even the fight itself but just the whole experience. I was doing these interviews and I was telling people, “Look man, it doesn’t matter who fights him, myself or Mickey Gall, we’re both gonna win, it doesn’t matter. It’s just how we win and the impact.” I was telling people like Mickey Gall he’s a brown belt in jiu jitsu, as far as his striking, he hasn’t really been improving, but his strong suit and his base is in jujitsu, in the scramble. I was like, “Look Mickey is just gonna go in there, take him down and submit him and that’s gonna be the end of it.”

When you have someone, when you have a guy like CM Punk’s mentality where, look he’s willing to step inside the cage. Dude, there’s something inside you when you got someone who’s willing to do that. He puts himself on the line out here in front of everybody, he takes his hell, but it’s the way he lost. He just got submitted. That leaves the door open, “Well, I didn’t really get beat up, yeah he took me out, I didn’t suffer any injuries, I’ll be back.”

I’m going in there to make sure that he doesn’t come back. My whole thing behind this was that obviously neither one of us deserve to be in the UFC. If you want to come into a sport where you have no experience in, you have to take the right path. He basically got to the UFC off of his name. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. Do what you have to do. Just like Conor McGregor, you have to understand that there are consequences for your actions. The consequence that he’s going to face is me standing across the cage and I’m going in there to beat this guy up. I’m not going in there to just take him down, and submit him. I’m going in there to punish him and make sure he doesn’t step back in the cage.

With that said, I have all the respect for him. There’s no ill will and I have no animosity toward him. I’m just here to prove a point.

That was my next question. It’s not like you have anything personal against him, it’s more of like a respect for the martial arts.

Yes, and I did feel a little slighted. I told this story quite a bit in the past few months. Following the Mickey Gall fight, I was in the back and I was getting checked out by the doctors and they’re writing my check. We’re like in this little tent and so, outside the tent, I see Phil and his lady, AJ Lee, standing off in the distance, maybe like 10, 15 yards or so. Anyway, I’m coming out the tent and he awkwardly approaches, and it was like one of those “good job, may I shake your hand?” It was just real awkward. That was the first thing that rubbed me the wrong way. Because again, I’m one of those guys that’s like, “Look, I lost, there was literally no reason for you to come over here and speak to me. Outside of that, you just want to be nice, but this awkward like good job, good effort spiel or whatever he said, that was the first thing that pissed me off.

Then, the build up for the Mickey Gall fight. In an interview, he had the audacity to call me a can. My thing is yeah, I did lose my MMA debut in the UFC. That was my MMA debut I made in the UFC and I lost against someone who was more talented and skilled than I am, in Mickey Gall. You can’t discredit the other things that I have done in combat sports. I’m undefeated in boxing and kickboxing with all my wins coming via knockout. You literally never fought and you call me a can. I don’t take too nicely to that, I don’t take kindly to that. That rubbed me the wrong way.

Again, I didn’t lose any sleep over it, but it’s one of those things when you are in the fighting industry and you have this dude over here talking a little spicy, well, we in the same weight class, let’s fight. We already fighting as it is in the sport itself, so you talk a little trash to me, so now we gotta fight. That was really my motivation for securing this fight with Phil Brooks, man the dude, he called me a can. I took issue with that. And so now, I gotta go punch this dude in the face for calling me a can.

I remember you calling him out over a year ago. Is Phil Brooks your white whale?

He’s my Moby Dick. I’m Captain Ahab. Hey, I mean that’s the cool … I’ve never thought about it like that but for me, I’m a patient guy. I understand my current position and role in fighting and combat sports. I’ve never had to fight, I just fight ’cause I enjoy the sport. I enjoy the competition. I come from a great family, right now what I do as far as the [inaudible 00:13:00]. That is how I live. I don’t really have much bills anymore. I’ve paid all that off. Right now I’m just in the great like, or comfortable life and the fighting is just the cherry on top. Obviously, when we in this sport, we want to maximize our profits and this is me just maximizing my profits.

I feel like this fight is the most natural build up to any fight that has happened in a very long time. It just works.

It was just a natural progression. Vince McMahon couldn’t have written a better storyline than this. That’s real life. It isn’t scripted. This isn’t anything that was pre-written or anything like that. This is just me being me, and me selling a fight. Then, on the other side you have Phil. And he’s just him. He’s someone’s come from professional wrestling, so he’s gonna bring that kind of attitude and vibe to the fight. It’s just me being a counterpart and doing my part, and doing my role.

UFC 225 is June 9th. By June 10th, do you expect for him to apologize for calling you a can?

No. And honestly, I would hope he didn’t apologize. I don’t want him to break character. Stand and keep the gimmick going. I’m gonna ride my gimmick ’til the wheels fall off and I doubt they fall off June 9th.

Do you think that there’s any chance that you’re going to lose?

There is no doubt in my mind. There is no chance. I can’t even envision taking an L to Phil Brooks.

How much do you think he’s improved? It’s been over a year since his last fight, he seems to be at Rufus Sport quite a bit. I talked to Tyron Woodley a few weeks ago and a couple of other guys that are training up there and they say that he’s just working his ass off. How much better of a Punk do you think that you’re gonna see?

Let me preface this by saying as of April 1st, I’ve been involved in, not only combat sports, but just MMA. I’ve been in MMA for 10 years. In that 10 year period, I’ve seen everybody. Look, I was there when Derrick Lewis was an amateur, I was at Sage Northcutt’s first fight. All these guys, Daniel Pineda,all these guys, I’ve been knowing since they were amateur fighters. Dustin Poirier, we fought on the same card back in the day. I’ve been involved.

With that said, I understand how fighters evolve and how fighters get better. I’ve seen myself evolve and get better over time. I feel that myself right now, I would just mop the floor with myself five years ago, right?

Phil is almost 40 years old. In that time, he has competed in professional wrestling, which has put a lot of wear and tear on his body. I can’t expect someone whose body is in such bad shape, a nd wasn’t even like a natural gifted athlete, to get that much better. He’s just a strong worker, like a tough guy. This isn’t someone that I feel is gonna, he can look at something or you can show him a move or skills and he’s just gonna pick it up immediately.

As I’m saying this, I could be 100% wrong. Chances are though, I highly doubt that I’m wrong in my analysis of CM Punk. I don’t see him learning something and getting better. In that year’s time, do I feel that he’s learned some things? Sure! I would hope he would’ve gotten better. Anybody in a year’s time. I just don’t see someone in his position being able to get that good where he’s going to beat me. Again, not saying I’ve been competing at a high level or training consistently for 10 years, but I’ve been involved in this sport for 10 years. Well, actually not, I have been training consistently for 10 years. I probably should’ve got like a jujitsu black belt or brown belt or something like that and have all these crazy fights but it’s just, that wasn’t my path, you know?

My path was just to do, learn these things and get better and just have fun with this and that’s what I’ve been doing. And he just doesn’t have what it takes, man. I’m a logical person, and the logic in me is like, “Look, there is nothing that he could’ve done that is going to prepare him for what he’s gonna see June 9th.”

Go back to your career a few years ago. Is it even possible for young Mike Jackson to comprehend that he’s chasing after and about to fight a World Wrestling Entertainment Champion?

I don’t think anyone could’ve envisioned that. I literally don’t think anyone in the fight game would’ve envisioned at some point in their life that they would be chasing a whale as in a Phil, or CM Punk. Yeah, people want to chase titles and get these big fights but no one is thinking, like a spectacle of a fight.

How does that make you feel? This is just so bizarre, I can only imagine how it feels for you.

You’re right! It is really bizarre. But for me, I just enjoy it, I enjoy being in the spotlight. That was always my thing. I’ve always loved being in front of the camera. I love entertaining people, I just love the lights man. I love the action. And so for me, it was almost fitting, just knowing the things I’ve done growing up and just the progression through the sport. It was almost fitting like this is how 10 years in, this is probably going to be the pinnacle of what I am gonna do as far as the fighting side of this, I’m not gonna top this.

I think this is the pinnacle and it’s just gonna set up the next chapter of my life as far as being involved in combat sports.

What’s next after this? Are you even focused on that at all?

Well, yeah. I mean, as a kid I’ve always been a business-minded individual, that’s how I got here, from branding myself and building this Mike “The Truth” entertainment. This whole thing, that’s how I got here to the UFC is by building that. It has always been, “What am I gonna do once I’m done fighting?” For me, obviously what I’m doing right now. I’m one of the best sports photographers in the game, hands down. That is getting published, you know I’ve been published in fighters only magazines and you always see me on Axxess TV at the Legacy Fights. For me, that’s really the foundation of what I’m doing after fighting. Then you know, I would love to get an analyst gig. I’m not really much into the commentary thing, because my personality is just … that’s not me. I’m more, I’m not cut out for that kind of TV, I’m more like some internet stuff, where I can let loose a little bit more. Right now, working for Legacy and working for another promotion called Fury out here, it’s doing well.

For me, that’s where I’m at, man. I’m just, and really I just like to live life. I’m just enjoying it. I really don’t have much plans outside of that. Just enjoying it, man.