CM Punk's mixed martial arts (MMA) debut back in 2016 didn't go the former WWE Champion's way. He's hoping to right that wrong this summer in his own backyard of Chicago, Illinois.
Punk decided to walk away from the professional wrestling industry back in January of 2014 citing several issues with the WWE.
Just a few months later he signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC before joining the Roufussport gym to train for his MMA debut for two years straight.
He stepped into the Octagon at UFC 203 on pay-per-view (PPV) in September of 2016 from Cleveland, Ohio. It was there he took on welterweight prospect Mickey Gall.
Gall took Punk down immediately and imposed his will on the former professional wrestler via ground-and-pound. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt was able to lock in a rear-naked choke for the submission win.
Despite suffering a lopsided defeat, Punk expressed his intentions to fight again and vowed not to give up. Now, just two years later, Punk is ready to fight again with even more training under his belt.
He will step inside the Octagon with Mike Jackson, an MMA journalist who also has an 0-1 record. Jackson fought Gall in his MMA debut as well, losing via first round submission - the same as Punk - however, the ex-WWE Champ laster much longer than Jackson did.
Now Jackson will get his chance to spoil Punk's MMA dreams, and vows to beat him worse than Gall did. Here's what Jackson had to say in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I’m not going in there to submit him,” Jackson said. “I’m not going in there to choke him out. I have no animosity or ill will towards Phil.
"For me, again, he called me a can. It wasn’t like it was someone of stature calling me a can, I can laugh it off, OK whatever.
“Again, he has never been in a fight. He has never been in a fight before the Gall fight, an actual unscripted fight. For someone like that to call me a can, I take that as disrespect.
"That’s like me deciding one day I want to be a wrestler and I walk into Vince McMahon’s office and I’m like, ‘Alright, I want to go wrestle Brock Lesnar for the belt and I want you to put me over.’
"I wouldn’t do that. I would have to pay my dues and work my way up.
“As far as lasting longer, I mean look at his face and look at my face,” Jackson said. “He’s the one who took more damage.
"So I mean, that’s inconsequential. It’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. But for me, I know I’m a better fighter, I’m gonna bring the bigger toolbox and he’s going night-night.
“Vince McMahon could not have written a better storyline,” Jackson said. … “The redemption story of CM Punk being ended by ‘The Truth’ at UFC 225.
“For that person to call me a can, I took that as a sign of disrespect,” he said.
“Again, we’re in the fight business and you disrespect somebody that just happens to be in your weight class, we’ve gotta fight.”
What are your thoughts on Jackson's comments regarding his upcoming fight with Punk? Do you think Punk could shock the world and pick up an MMA win? Or are the odds against him too much? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below!
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