Fights happened at UFC 181. Titles were defended. Blood spilled. But all that went down in a very large shadow—deposed WWE wrestling kingpin CM Punk is coming, per an announcement during the pay-per-view Saturday night, to the UFC Octagon.
Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, left the WWE on bad terms in January. He's been the subject of whispers ever since, rumors of his eventual signing with the UFC swirling around for months before the company finally pulled the trigger Saturday.
Brooks, who will compete as either a middleweight or a welterweight, appeared on the UFC 181 broadcast to discuss his multi-fight deal with announcer Joe Rogan.
“I have a background in kempo, and I’ve been doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for a long time," Brooks said. "This is my new career, 100 percent I'm going to go full steam ahead, all systems go after today, and it's going to be fun.
"I have nothing but respect for everybody here at the UFC, everybody who steps in the Octagon to fight. And when it's all said and done, when I'm finished, everybody's going to have to respect me because I have come here to fight."
It was a move that shocked the combat-sports world, me included. To be honest I never gave a potential Punk signing much thought. It simply seemed too far-fetched to warrant much brain power. Sure, Punk was a noted MMA fan who trains with Rener Gracie. And, yes, he's expressed some interest in giving MMA a try.
But in the UFC? The Super Bowl of mixed martial arts?
It just didn't seem feasible. After all, this is a man with no history of athletic success, no track record in martial arts competition and a laundry list of injuries that made continuing his career as a wrestling showman untenable.
Giving fighting a shot is Punk's choice. Putting him in the Octagon, where ostensibly the best cage fighters in the world compete, is White's. And it's nothing more than a sideshow, the kind of hucksterism the UFC was supposedly escaping when it ran towards respectability and away from its early reputation as human cockfighting.
This is a publicity stunt and a naked cash grab. The UFC is eschewing sport for spectacle, walking the opposite path it followed to grow the "sport" to this point. But there's no underestimating the levels Dana White and company will sink to in the name of American capitalism. The UFC is struggling in the American market. Television numbers are down. Pay-per-view numbers are reportedly at the lowest levels since the dawn of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005. It's, no doubt, pretty scary to ponder the future these days. They've bet it all, everything White and his partners have built over more than a decade, on successful foreign expansion.
And that's a bet that will be slow paying off—if it does at all. In the meantime, with its top stars either in decline like Anderson Silva, pondering a movie career like Ronda Rousey or in an extended public spat with the promotion over drug testing and other issues like George St-Pierre, the UFC is desperate for something to click with their fans.
Enter CM Punk.
The UFC has seen the potential power of a professional wrestler at the box office before. When former (and current) WWE champion Brock Lesnar signed with the company in 2008, it lit a fire that burned hot and fast. The promotion broke box-office records behind Lesnar, riding his success to unthinkable heights.
It's tempting to compare the two men because of their WWE backgrounds. But Lesnar was an athletic marvel, a former NCAA champion wrestler who once tried out for the Minnesota Vikings on a whim and impressed even NFL scouts with his raw ability.
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2291848-dear-dana-white-send-cm-punk-back-to-the-wwe-ufc-doesnt-need-him
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