Mike Jackson On Daniel Bryan Saying He Could Beat Him, If CM Punk Thought He Had A Chance To Win
On a recent episode of his Heated Conversations podcast, Booker T spoke to Mike Jackson about his win over CM Punk at UFC 225 earlier this month. Jackson discussed whether he thinks Punk really believed he had a chance of winning their fight. Even though he believes he was on another level from Punk, Jackson said he thinks Punk was confident and thought he could win by submission.
"I do believe that he did. I legit felt that in his mind that he was going to take me down and submit me. I believe that 100%. No man is going to get into a fight with nothing but winning on their mind. I don't believe that. Outside of the bums who are just joining for a check, I don't think he was doing it for a check," Jackson said. "He could have made the money elsewhere off of his brand. I felt that in his heart he thought that he was going to take me down and submit me, but like I said I was at a different level than where he was at. I had to shut all that down."
Jackson also discussed Daniel Bryan, who said he could beat him in a fight. When he was asked about Jackson during a Q&A session with his wife Brie Bella, Bryan said, "I think the answer... I can beat him on the ground for sure... I think." Brie added, "you could definitely beat him."
Jackson said he found the challenge laughable. He is aware of who Bryan is and his popularity as a professional wrestler, but he doesn't think Bryan knows what he would be getting himself into. He said if Bryan really wants to fight him, he would happily accept.
"I saw that and I just laughed. I remembered seeing it scroll through my headline but I didn't know what it was so I kept scrolling and didn't pay any attention to it because I just thought it was a CM Punk reference. I just kept scrolling—I was in Chipotle and was trying to get me a bowl and next thing you know my phone is blowing up," Jackson said. "People were like, yo, Daniel Bryan said—I was like, dude, this is getting ridiculous now. I was like, what? Like I said, I kind of drifted away from pro wrestling once he grew in popularity, but I am very familiar with pro wrestling and the whole 'Yes!' chant and things like that. I know that he has a little background in catch wrestling and things like that, but my thing is that I know you have neck problems. I know where you are restricted in your abilities so why would my name even come out of your mouth? If Daniel Bryan wants this smoke, they call me 'Chimney Man' because I have all this smoke."
If any portion of these quotes are used, please be sure to credit Heated Conversations with Booker T with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Heated Conversations
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.