CM Punk recently spoke with Yahoo Sports about his pending debut fight with UFC, insisting he is taking this seriously.
Punk talked about why he wanted to fight in the first place, dealing with Twitter backlash and people who insult his decision, seeking advice from Dave Bautista, who also tried his hand at MMA fighting, and much more. You can read a few excerpts below:
CM Punk comments on Twitter backlash towards him:
“I don’t think that has anything to do with the UFC or fighting in general. It’s just human nature. It’s the society we live in. Look, there’s only one thing people love more than their heroes, and that’s stomping them into the ground.
“I could talk to you about why, psychologically, people want to do that. I think it’s because they’re jealous, they’re scared, they’re afraid about whatever is going on in their lives. … But the way I deal with it is simple: Whatever other people think of me is none of my business.”
Talking to Batista about deciding to become a fighter:
“Part of my reason for most of the decisions I make in life is I don’t want to have regrets,” he said. “I talked to Dave Bautista [an ex-WWE wrestler who has one pro MMA fight] and he’s a great guy to talk to about this kind of stuff because he did the same thing. He said, ‘You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to chase your dream. You’re going to wake up one day and realize that you were presented an opportunity and you could have done it, but didn’t.’ So it’s a big reason.”
Punk comments on Mickey Gall’s challenge:
“I like it. I definitely like it. He’s a feasible opponent. And everybody should call me out. I’m like a bizarre lottery ticket. He didn’t really trash talk. I know he’s going to, but he seems like a nice kid.”
CM Punk on how serious he is taking his UFC career:
“Believe me, I have done more interviews in my life than any man should ever have to do. I don’t like talking about it. I’m doing this because I want to fight, because I love the sport and I want to see where I can go with it. Talking can get tedious, but I understand its importance and that we have to promote the fights.
But I’m 100 percent serious about this. I wouldn’t devote this much of my life and have gone through all of this for a little bit of publicity. I can get publicity a lot more easily than I can by training to fight. I’m fighting because I love to fight and compete. When you get right down to it, that’s what this is all about.”
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