https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDtOFE88olI
CM Punk’s opponent for UFC 225 in Chicago has finally been revealed. After months of speculation regarding who the pro wrestler turned MMA fighter would face in his second UFC fight, Dana White confirmed it would be fellow raw recruit Mike ‘The Truth’ Jackson.
“That is the fight,” White admitted to a TMZ Sports reporter. “That’s the fight.”
The bout goes down June 9th at the United Center in an event headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero for the middleweight title.
Jackson has been the long-rumored front runner for the spot since Punk started pumping his followers up for a Chicago return. There were some that thought maybe the UFC might throw Punk against Floyd Mayweather in the ultimate freakshow fight, but that was mostly just speculation built off their mutual inexperience in MMA.
So who is Jackson? He’s a Houston based MMA journalist and part time fighter with a professional record of 0-1. That loss comes courtesy of Mickey Gall, the same guy who gave CM Punk his quick loss in the UFC. As one of the original prospects for the initial CM Punk fight, he’s already been in a couple of back and forth spats with the former WWE superstar over Punk calling him a can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SK2QiMqll0
The bookies certainly don’t see Jackson as much of a can compared to CM Punk. Mike comes into this fight a -260 favorite to Punk’s +200 dog status. That gives CM Punk a better chance against Jackson than he had against Gall, who rose to a -500 favorite off the strength (or weakness) of terrible looking Punk training footage that came out leading up to the fight.
Punk’s had a year and a half more worth of training with world class coach Duke Roufus, so maybe he’ll show up a different man than the one we saw get choked out at UFC 203 in 2016. But it takes a long time to get better at MMA fighting, and even though we’re certified members of the CM Punk fan club, we certainly wouldn’t put any money on him winning. But we’ll sure watch that fight with a lot of interest.
