CM Punk Set For UFC 203 Debut Fight Sept. 10; Criticizes WWE Creative
The first UFC fight for CM Punk is set to take place on September 10 in Cleveland against Mickey Gall at the UFC 203 event. It was rumored that he would fight at UFC 202 a month earlier, but it got pushed back to give them more time to prepare for the fight. Punk has dealt with a back injury for the past few months and just got cleared recently.
Punk appeared on the UFC Unfiltered podcast hosted by Jim Norton and Matt Serra and he had a lot to say like usual. Mainly he was there to promote the fight, but he also talked about WWE as well, which is why we’re posting about it here. Here are some of his more interesting comments with thanks to PWTorch for transcribing.
On getting cleared by doctors:
“The instant I got cleared, I got on the horn with Dana (White) and we nailed everything out. I will be debuting September 10 in Cleveland. I’m super-excited. I’m happy to have a date, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, I can probably say I’m healthy and strong again. It’s nice to be healthy.”
On possibly missing the fight due to injury and other factors:
“The worry of that definitely crept into my head. I tried to stay positive. The back surgery was a f—– bum-out. And then there’s the months of rehabs where I couldn’t do anything. I never thought that it was over. I never thought that I was never going to make it to a fight.”
On WWE creative’s process with a team of writers:
“You have a whole room of guys writing for you who don’t know you, where you’re coming from, your perspective, or your character. And, if you’re out there being disingenuous saying words that three other people wrote – I always felt that the crowd could tell. And then they’re going to pay attention to their phone or s— on your segment. I was always a big fan of doing my own thing.”
On what some WWE performers need to do:
“Now, wrestling is over-scripted to death. It’s almost like they have a chokehold on it. Some guys need to let loose and be themselves.”
He went on to say that “this is just the beginning” meaning that he’ll have more fights in UFC.
TJR Thoughts: I think he’s absolutely right about WWE and their creative time. The shows are scripted too much to the point that there just isn’t a lot of opportunity for wrestlers to freelance when they are on the microphone. Obviously we don’t know for sure what guys or girls get things scripted word for word, but I think just the idea of doing that is bad. Of course it’s been like that for over a decade and WWE seems set in their ways, so don’t look for it to change anytime soon.
There aren’t many acts out there where you can say guys have been able to “let loose” although The New Day comes to mind. They can do a lot of different and creative stuff that they apparently work on themselves, so again that makes them stand out. I just think so many performers aren’t given that same sense of freedom. It would be nice if they did.
I don’t know if Punk will win his first fight in UFC or how many fights he will have, but I’m a fan of his and always will be. I wish him the best.