Davey Boy Smith Jr. Talks CM Punk Fighting In The UFC, If "It Was A Bad Thing"
Former WWE Superstar Davey Boy Smith Jr. recently did an interview with Hannibal TV to discuss a variety of pro wrestling topics. During the interview Smith was asked his opinion on former WWE Champion CM Punk's fight in the UFC. You can check out what he had to say here:
"I'll say this off the bat, I give Phil, or CM Punk, I give him credit for going out there and doing the fight. A lot of people, a lot of fighters were probably mad because he got, what? 500,000 grand for the fight? And bottom guys it's five and five if they lose or ten and ten, I don't know exactly the pay scale, but you can't really flank Punk for that. The guys to blame for that are the guys paying him the money. That'll be Dana White or the brothers of whatever, I don't know that side of the pay scale. That was kind of the same thing with a lot of the guys being sent to developmental, a lot of models or muscle heads or football players, they're being signed to big money and guys in developmental are getting mad at them. Well, you shouldn't be mad at them you should be getting mad at the guy hiring them because that's the guy paying them. Cause if somebody says, if there's a guy that's a muscle-head football player and he's retired, and he's looking for a job and somebody says 'Oh, I'll pay you 75 grand to be a lawyer.' 'Okay, sure. I'll take it. I don't know how to be a lawyer, I don't like being a lawyer, but I'll take it.'
"So that's the thing, you don't get mad at CM Punk – because I know that (Nate) Diaz said a bunch of stuff about him. But hey he got offered the money and he was willing to take the risk one night. I know he did go train with Josh Barnett, and Josh told me when we were chatting that he needed a lot of work and I know that Josh is a very smart guy with fighters and fighting. And teaching. And I would take his word over anybody's if his advice or his opinion on somebody being ready to be in a cage over anybody's. I mean the guy has been fighting in MMA for 20 years. He knows pro wrestling and he would know what Punk's stature is. I believed him and I knew when he was stepping into the Octagon that it was a big risk and I didn't think he was going to win, to be honest with you. I didn't think it was a bad idea because he had one UFC fight under his belt and made half a million dollars. He can move on and do whatever else he wants to do. I think it would've been better if he had some – I don't want to say easier fights.
"Maybe if Bellator had offered him something. Kind of built up his record because fighting anyone in the UFC, even if it's a lower-ranked guy, they're professional fighters and that's what they do for a living. Anybody there who's fighting now is basically a stud. They're gonna be a specialist in something. If it's striking, wrestling, grappling on the ground. To be able to get up there you have to have a certain amount of pro fights, so everybody there is pretty much a stud. There are no push-overs. So was it a bad thing? Well, I mean I don't think it hurt pro wrestling cause everybody seems to think that it's fake and this and that, and that's because of the way things have happened and the way things have been exploited. But also, people know that if it's pre-determined they still want to be entertained, but they still almost want to believe 'Oh is that really real?' And that's what I was getting back to was being stiff with each other and laying stuff in and having a respect for kayfabe."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Hannibal TV with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Hannibal TV