Coach: CM Punk fight was good for the sport

Duke Roufus, one of the greatest coaches in mixed martial arts, appeared recently on the Sherdog Radio NetworkN, and offered the insider’s opinion of CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall.

Everyone has their own opinion, said Roufus, as transcribed by Mike Sloan and TJ De Santis for Sherdog. It’s like when a fight is a close decision, it’s an opinion and I respect it. Obviously, the UFC knew there was an advantage to do this and they are well thought-out in everything they do. I watch their promotions and business practices and they are a very sharp company. They take all the steps they need to, to be successful.

But (Punk) brought a lot of people to the event. People were walking up to me and recognizing me and would tell me that they are UFC fans now when they used to only be wrestling fans or that they are now fans of both. To me, that’s positive. I want people to get bigger paydays. I believe that a high tide raises all ships and I believe that the attention that CM Punk brought to this event is going to help our industry.

I think this also helps the other project Dana has, Lookin’ for a Fight. It’s a great show and they are plucking talent from it and that’s where Sage came from and it can help create stars. Do we have enough stars in this sport? We don’t. We gotta help grow stars within our sport, within our industry and help promote them. One thing this event will prove to you is when the media machine that is the UFC gets behind you, they will build you.

I told Stipe after the event that he needs to thank CM Punk for being on the card. A lot of these champions have contracts where they get more money depending on the pay-per-view buys. The numbers aren’t out yet, I don’t think, but Punk brought a lot of attention to the event and it helped everybody.

So will CM Punk fight again?

He’s got some stitches [around] his eye and he had some cauliflower ear that blew up during the fight so he has to get those healed up. I know he wants to get back on the mat and keep working. I had a plethora of promoters reach out to me but I’m not his manager. People have shown great interest in working with him.

The game is faster, stronger, more explosive in the Octagon and that’s the lesson that I think he learned the most, is to train more and work harder. I think we’re going to see him do some jiu jitsu tournaments to get some more competition rounds in as well… I think he’s going to (fight again).

The next question then is who he will fight for. White said it will probably not be in the UFC. The PPV buys were double what might have otherwise been expected, which adds a perhaps $10,000,000 wrinkle to the conversation.

Most people start learning a sport, then they get good, then they compete. Years later, if they are awesome, they can turn pro.

CM Punk signed with the UFC, and then started training. A return to basic instruction, and some grappling tournaments is a reasonable first step in a do over.