The CM Punk PR machine continue to roll following his stunning announcement last week that he has signed to fight with the UFC. Punk — real name Phil Brooks — is picking some select outlets to talk more about his career move.
On Wednesday night, he appeared live on Fox Sports 1 to talk more about it. He admitted that he has very little sparring, which is the weakest part of his game, and isn't sure what belt he has in Brazilian jiu-jitsu because he has trained so infrequently with Rener Gracie.
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Punk understands that puts an even larger target on his back for detractors to zero in on. But that's not stopping him from trying something that he realized he may fail at.
I don't think you can approach anything with such a strong fear of failure that it would prevent you from doing anything. There's a big chance I fall flat on my face on this and obviously it will be in front of the entire world. That's never stopped me from attempting to do anything. You're talking to a man who crapped himself on national television before, so I'm ready to be embarrassed if it comes to that.
Yes, you heard that last part right — Punk did in fact have an 'accident' in the ring during a match against Dean Ambrose on Smackdown last year. He also brought this story up on his now infamous appearance on the Art of Wrestling podcast, attributing it to all the antibiotics he was on at the time.
During the Fox appearance, Punk went so far to say that he may not even deserve a shot in the UFC.
Deserve, that's the key word I suppose. I'm not really going to say that I do deserve it. I think time will tell if I deserve it or not. Respect has to be earned, not just given. I very much understand that. And I understand the perspective of a lot of the fighters but some of them are just trying to jump on the bandwagon too, call names and pick fights. That's what they're supposed to do, that's the fight game, and I appreciate that. I just roll with the punches. I'll take all the positive stuff and leave all the negative stuff behind.
With comments like those, you can imagine how many people have begged Dana White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva that they want to be Punk's first opponent in the Octagon. To some, it looks like easily pickings but UFC won't — and really can't — put him in a fight against a veteran fighter who he would be totally mismatched against.
Punk knows his celebrity is why he is getting that opportunity and he simply doesn't care what other people think. But the hard part will be satisfying himseld and shutting other up by having an impressive performance once he does get in the cage.
When that happens, his weight class and even what camp he trains with going forward remain to be seen.
Brian Fritz has previously covered pro wrestling and MMA for AOL FanHouse and The Orlando Sentinel. You can find more of his work including podcasts at www.BetweenTheRopes.com E-mail him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz.