A large part of the MMA community and the IWC breathed a sigh of relief when CM Punk’s MMA and UFC debut was announced for UFC 203. The former WWE Champion was recently a guest on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd and spoke his mind in typical fashion, on a number of subjects ranging from the WWE’s treatment of their talent to him going to the front of the queue in the UFC and the possibility of a return to pro-wrestling.
Here are some of his quotes, courtesy of Fox Sports:
The bank statement of a WWE Superstar
“Back in I want to say, 2011, my contract was up and they were trying to re-sign me and they were trying to re-sign me for lowball figures. It's what they do to the guys. They're indentured servants.
“They try to pay them the smallest amount of money you could possibly pay them. There's no health insurance. You're responsible for your own travel, your own hotels, your own food on the road. You're home once a day, maybe. I did that 10 years to get to the WWE and then I did it 10 years there, so my gas tank was empty in that regard.”
Was an MMA debut supposed to happen much earlier?
“In 2011, it was kind of hanging in the balance there and I made the decision to re-sign. It's not that I regret that decision, it's just that if I didn't re-sign, I would have dedicated myself 100-percent to this.
“So I re-signed, that story unfolded, that chapter of my book's over with and now I 100-percent dedicate myself to this now. It's just later than I anticipated and it's a bigger challenge now because I'm older.”
On being lambasted for being given a sacred UFC contract despite having no MMA fights under his belt
“There's something pure about it that nobody outside that cage can touch. Do I think that I'm ruining the sport? No, absolutely not. Do I know that there are people that are going to say that? Yeah, absolutely, but I don't got to see them on a daily basis and when I want to shut them off, I just don't read my Twitter.”
Is a return to pro-wrestling a speck on the horizon?
“No, I don't think so. But it is one of those "never say never" things. I like to cover all my bases, just so some internet dweeb is going to be like, 'you said you'd never wrestle again!' But WWE? No. Absolutely not. But you never know, I could pop up here and there.
“Let me explain that to you even better... it's not going to even be televised, it's going to be me in a ninja f--king outfit wrestling one of my buddies and nobody's ever going to know. It's going to be very 'Monty Python' so to speak. ”
