CM Punk Predicts His UFC Debut, Talks Filming With AJ Lee & Family, Cutting Weight, No Promos, More
Above is the audio from CM Punk and Mickey Gall's UFC 203 media call that took place on Thursday. As noted, Punk will make his UFC debut next Saturday night against Gall. Below are highlights from the call:
* Punk says he knew what he was getting into and nothing surprised him in regards to the past two years of training. The level of competition in his gym would be surprising to most people but it wasn't eye-opening to him... he wanted to do this at the highest level with the best gym in the world against the hardest guys. It's all about proving something inside the Octagon
* A caller asked about criticism over Punk's sparring after clips from the FS1 "Evolution of Punk" documentary came out. He says it was a correct depiction of where he was at when the filming was shot... pre-back surgery, walking around with a herniated disc, 15% power in his left leg. Punk says he won't be the same guy we saw on the TV show and saying that would be like watching one of Gall's fights and thinking he's going to fight the same person. He won't say if the criticisms are unfair because life is unfair but you can't just listen to what some guy on the internet says. Punk says he knows what he's good at, what he's going to be good at and what he did a year and a half ago doesn't matter to him
* When asked how it is cutting weight, dropping to 170, Punk says it's terrible. He's just above 200 pounds right now and "it's not looking good" he said. He later joked that he will need an amputation to get to 170
* Punk was asked about coming into UFC being billed as a former WWE Superstar and if he cares how people from the wrestling world are reacting, and if that matters considering how his star power from WWE is how he got into UFC. Punk said it does not matter and he's not trying to negate anyone's opinion or hurt their feelings. There are people who want to see him win and see him fail. He said you can't get too far up your own ass believing the positive stuff people say, but you also can't believe the negative stuff. For those that want to see him lose, it doesn't matter if they boo or cheer as long as they're really loud and invested in the fight
* His mindset hasn't changed in regards to what's next after this fight. He wakes up and trains for this goal and is focused on this fight, not thinking about the second opponent yet. He's "for sure in this for the long haul" and has a decent number of fights on his contract. Punk added that he's looking to fulfill that contract and have fun doing it
* When asked for a fight prediction, Punk predicts his hand will be raised at the end. He's not one for making predictions but definitely sees himself winning, likely by TKO
* Regarding wife AJ Lee being featured in the FS1 documentary, she did have the option to not be featured but they both felt like it was important to include her. Punk feels his dog Larry is the star of the whole show. He says filming the show was an open book. During filming he said no to some things and some things were more annoying than others but it was agreed on that the show would be an open book and show what his life is like with the whole transition. Things he did not want them to shoot had to do with family, trying to get everyone together after his sister just had a baby. They did give access to the family on Christmas and he said that was a little annoying but they got some good footage out of it. The caller wished Punk good luck and he responded, "Thank you sir, luck's for losers."
* Punk was asked about the lack of pro wrestling style promos in the build-up for this fight. He doesn't know if there's a need for it here. Punk said people already love him or hate him, he's not trying to talk anyone into the building for the fight. The allure is the fact that the fight is happening and the story writes himself. He said he doesn't need to create drama between he and Mickey. They're going to fight and that's the beauty of it, it doesn't need to be a weird, verbal pissing contest. He acknowledged this is entertainment and a s–t-talk business, he doesn't see it happening this time
* Coaches Duke Roufus, Scott Cushman and Daniel Wanderley will be in his corner for the fight. He joked that he tried to get a 4th person for the corner but they didn't want to allow Bret Hart in
* Regarding Conor McGregor's recent anti-WWE comments, Punk said he does not care. He felt like WWE told people to respond to Conor because of the amount of people that did respond
* Punk was asked if anyone ever tried to talk him out of this and he said no
* Punk has talked to Brock Lesnar on & off but nothing major to speak on. He said Lesnar offered advice and let him pick his brain when he wanted, or ask questions no matter how stupid they were
* He talked about how WWE is a lifestyle compared to UFC, which is a vacation in comparison. He doesn't understand how guys with kids and wives stay in WWE, then mentioned that the divorce rate in WWE is high