CM Punk Joins UFC

[Lover Boy]

AS VEGAS -- The UFC has signed former WWE professional wrestler CM Punk to fight in the Octagon.

The promotion announced the signing during its UFC 181 pay-per-view broadcast Saturday night. CM Punk, birth name Phil Brooks, has never fought professional mixed martial arts.

"This is my new career, 100 percent," CM Punk said in a statement. "I'm going to go full steam ahead, all systems go after today, and it's going to be fun."

UFC president Dana White said CM Punk intends to fight at middleweight (185 pounds), but said he'd be open to 170 pounds.

"He wanted to fight here," White told ESPN.com. "He wanted to give it a shot, so we gave him an opportunity. It's not like Brock Lesnar. We're not going to throw the kitchen sink at him. Lesnar had a wrestling background. [CM Punk] is going to fight a guy who is 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 -- something like that."

White did not have a firm 2015 date for CM Punk's debut, saying it could take some time, perhaps six to seven months. The UFC head noted that Brooks has been training jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts for an extended period of time.

"He's been coming to fights for a long time and after his WWE contract was up, he called me and said he wanted to give it a shot. I said, 'All right. We'll give you a shot.' "

At 36, CM Punk acknowledges that time is not on his side.

"My professional wrestling days are over, it's awesome to be here," he said. "This is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

"I felt like it was now or never. I have a limited window most fighters don't have. I'm either here to win or get my ass kicked."

In addition to Lesnar, who went 5-3 over his MMA career, other WWE stars have tried their hands in mixed martial arts, including Dave Bautista (1-0) and Bobby Lashley (12-2).

ESPN

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[Postman Dave]

Well that's big.

Guess his body's not as banged up as it used to be.

 

[Fuji Vice]

So, he's not coming back at the Rumble?

 

[Wangman Page]

So what happens when he gets hit in the face for real will he walk out of the ppv on the spot what if he is not put in the top fight will he just leave?

 

[Postman Dave]

So what happens when he gets hit in the face for real will he walk out of the ppv on the spot what if he is not put in the top fight will he just leave?

TBF, it does say in the post he'll be getting 1-0, 2-1 record type guys for the most part. He's not there to challenge the best straight off the bat.

 

[Sabretooth]

So I guess if another fight that is clearly the bigger draw goes ahead of him, he'll up and leave.

 

[Castiel]

Man, Punk jokes suck already, even if he's obviously a bitch. Interested in this for sure though, I can watch the occasional fight and enjoy it, and who isn't going to watch Punk's UFC debut?

 

[The Great Cochrane]

According to some of the guys from Roufusport (which is where he trains out of in Milwuakee) he's already gotten some huge compliments from guys like Anthony Pettis and Tyron Woodley. So I imagine he'll do pretty good. And guys he won't start out on a PPV card. I'll be suprised if he even gets a prelim spot on a PPV card. Surely the drawing power is there but he's as a green as grass in the sport of MMA.