James Ryder

CM Punks Admits He Was Too Old To Have A UFC Career

CM Punks Admits He Was Too Old To Have A UFC Career
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CM Punk became a laughing stock in mixed martial arts circles after he was soundly defeated in his two high profile Ultimate Fighting Championship fights. He has now appeared as a guest on Oral Sessions with Renée Paquette, the new podcast by his former WWE Backstage colleague, and during the interview admitted he was too old to start MMA training.

I always wanted to do it, and being on the road eight days a week for how long WWE people are on the road for, I could never train consistently, I had planned on leaving when my deal was up at the end of 2010 or 2011. That was kind of my plan because I always thought if I was going to train, it was never just going to be a hobby for me. So, the idea was, I was going to leave. I needed time off anyway, but I would just devote a lot of time to full-time training.

At that time, I wasn’t a big enough name where somebody was just going to be like, “Hey, it’s a spectacle. It’s a freak show. Everyone wants to watch you fight.” So, I was just going to do it the right way. I was going to train. I was going to do amateur fights. I was just going to take my life in a different direction just because I wanted to do it.

I think a lot of people out there who are critical of me and the performances will say, “Oh, I’ll get beat up for a million dollars,” but my retort to that was always, “Do the work that I did to get to the point where somebody would offer you that kind of money because there would be an audience to see you fight.” 73 Twitter followers doesn’t equate to a million-dollar payday to fight.

I obviously re-signed, and then that kind of delayed everything for another three years. The idea was, “Let’s do this before you get too old.” God damn it, turns out I was too old.CM Punk

Punk moved to Milwaukee at the age of 35 to began training under Duke Roufus at Roufusport MMA Academy. After twenty months of training, which was interrupted by an injury, he stepped into the Octagon for the first time. He’d end up losing to Mickey Gall, who was competing in his third professional fight via submission. Punk would then face 0-1 fighter Mike Jackson after another a year and a half later and lose via unanimous decision. Some experts said Jackson dragged the fight out rather than finishing Punk, and Dana White, President of the UFC, declared both men were done fighting for the promotion.

CM Punk hasn’t officially retired from MMA, and between September 1st, 2020 and December 14th, 2020, has submitted two testing samples in the USDA testing pool, a requirement of those who intend to fight. This would seemingly indicate he hasn’t ruled out competing in the future, although it’s doubtful it would be for UFC.

James Ryder
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