Fertitta: Punk opponent will be ‘competitive’
Lorenzo Fertitta: It’s going to be somebody who is a professional mixed martial artist – certainly somebody who MMA media will recognize and know.”
ZUFFA CEO Lorenzo Fertitta spoke recently with Brett Okamoto for ESPN about the signing of former WWE champion Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks. Fertitta indicated that Brooks, 36, will likely fight at middleweight in the co-main event of a PPV, “most likely” against someone from outside the current roster.
“I think it has to be somebody with some level of credentials,” said Fertitta. “It’s not just going to be some guy off the street. It’s going to be somebody who is a professional mixed martial artist – certainly somebody who MMA media will recognize and know.”
“But I’m going to defer to Joe Silva. We’ll let him bring two to three names to the table and we’ll figure it out from there. But I guarantee you it will be a competitive guy.”
“We knew there was going to be backlash. At the end of the day, we did our research and we talked to the people he’s trained with. We’re going to find out what he can bring to the table. We’re confident he has the skills to fight. We don’t know exactly what level yet. Sometimes, you’ve got to invest in what we call ‘fighter development.’ We’ve done it before and guys have developed into very competitive fighters, and we’ve done it where guys have not.”
For his part, Punk showed his characteristic sense of humor.
“They will give me a fight that makes sense — unless this thing is a big rib on me and they have me fight Anderson Silva right away,” said Brooks. “I could tell you what the outcome of that fight would be.
“Only time will tell, but if I had to guess who’s standing across the Octagon from me, it’s probably a young kid with around the same experience as myself.”