The UFC 181 main card had:
•Tony Ferguson weather heavy leather and come back to win via RNC;
•Todd Duffee come back from beating Parsonage-Turner syndrome to beating Anthony Hamilton in 33 seconds;
•Travis Browne breaking down Brendan Schaub, and then whispering a little something in his ear;
•Anthony Pettis defending his title like a champ in the fight of the night: and,
•Robbie Lawler beating Johny Hendricks in one of the great comebacks in the sport’s history.
In short, it was why you pay 50 bucks to watch fights.
And then there was the announcement that the league had signed former WWE champion CM Punk to a multi-fight contract.
The UFC has generally avoided signing untested figures. They did sign James Toney, who left after one loss, never having thrown a punch. They declined to use Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, when they acquired StrikeForce. And they did sign Brock Lesnar after just one fight, which turned out pretty well.
CM Punk spoke with Ariel Helwani in a long, intelligent, and thoughtful interview, and made the case for his signing.
“I know I have a lot of work ahead of me,” he said. “I am going to give myself to this business. And I know whatever I put out, I’m going to get back. So I’m excited.”
“I said something in passing to Lorenzo and then he said something half-ass joking back, and I think that’s when the seed was planted,” he said, as transcribed by Brett Okamoto for ESPN. “I didn’t have to beg. They didn’t have to beg. I honestly think it’s a perfect match because of guys like Brock Lesnar who have laid all the ground work. Dana already told me somebody asked him, ‘Oh, I thought you don’t do freak show fights.’ I wear that like a badge. I was a huge Pride fan. So if anybody out there considers me a freak show fight, I think that’s kind of funny.”
“I would’ve started somewhere if Dana and Lorenzo told me to go pound sand,” said Punk as transcribed by Anton Tabuena for BE. “I would’ve fought somewhere else. This isn’t the UFC. This isn’t about the money. I still enjoy getting paid, but this very much is about the journey, about getting to the first fight, and about competing, about showing everyone what’s inside of me.
“I think have to make everyone into a believer. I respect everyone who has stepped inside the cage, men and women alike, and when I’m done with this, I will have earned their respect. I will settle for nothing less. It’s my position not to make a mockery of this sport. But ultimately, it’s two people inside the cage trying to punch each other in the face, and there’s nothing really artistic about that when you get down to it. Skeptics, be skeptical, that’s your job. My job is to prove everyone wrong.”
“They will get mad at me about this, but (Dana and Lorenzo) flew to Chicago, and we talked about it. This was late October.”
“It’s a multi-fight deal. Yes, I’m planning on fighting more than once. For the foreseeable future, this is my home, and I don’t think anything will stop me from fighting into my 40s… I know people will probably crucify me for even saying his name, but Couture didn’t start MMA until he was my age.*
“Yes, I know he was a wrestler, and yes I know he wrestled in the army. Thank you, my twitter is @CMPunk, you can tell me all about it.
“But, Anthony Perosh I think is in his 40s, so there are fighters in their 40’s and I think that’s awesome. I think it’s up to the individual and how they feel, and I know you can’t tell an athlete when to hang it up. It’s based on how I feel, and how I feel right now is magnificent.”
“DC said ‘come to AKA’, I already have a good rapport with Duke Roufus, there’s Curran’s in Chicago, ‘Top Team down in Coconut Creek, and they’ve got the new welterweight champion. I’m not saying I have options and I can cherry pick where ever the hell I want, but I have options in the sense that there are a lot of avenues open right now.
“I want to decide ASAP. I would love to have Rener Gracie in my corner but I’m not sure how it will workout. If I decide to go to Roufusport in Milwaukee which is just 90 mins away from my house, how does Rener fit into that? Because they have their own jiujitsu coaches, so that’s something that I will have to talk to guys about and work through, and figure out, but I can’t see myself walking out without Rener.”
“The first legitimate conversation I had with Dana and Lorenzo, I was 215 and I ate so much food in front of them. In hindsight, I thought maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Since then, I’ve already lost 15 pounds and been training my ass off already, anticipating this. It’s exciting for me. I think I could — I don’t want to say “easily” get to 185 — I’m going to do a test weight cut. I’m going to use all the contacts I already have to get the best nutritionist and see how I feel. I’m not ruling out 170. I’ve got to test my body, but 185 is my most likely target.”
“I’m not going to try and give some inspirational message or anything like that. I just — there are a lot of kids that look up to me, maybe, I don’t know, and I always tell them, ‘Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do something. If you want to do something and it doesn’t harm anybody else, do it. Choose a path and work toward it to the best of your ability.’ That’s all I’m doing here. I’m 36 years young. I’m going to give it 100 percent, and I don’t let anybody tell me I can’t do something.”
“The six-month mark is in the back of my head. To train six months, but that’s nothing in MMA. There’s people living and doing this for years and years and years. I don’t have that luxury, so to me, I’m going to train my ass off for six months, and I’m going to reevaluate and see how I feel, and see where the weight is at. Then reassess and go from there.”
*Couture made his UFC debut at 33, which is close enough to Punk’s 36.
