CM Punk says he’s ‘pretty confident’ he’ll be fighting again in the UFC
Former WWE superstar was humbled inside three minutes by Mickey Gall at UFC 203, but says he's confident he'll be back fighting in the UFC once more
FORMER superstar says he's pretty confident he'll be fighting in the UFC again, despite his disastrous debut at UFC 203.
Punk was submitted in just two minutes 14 seconds by Mickey Gall on his Octagon debut in Cleveland in September.
But that loss hasn't deterred him, and when asked on The MMA Hour whether he would continue to fight in MMA, his answer was simple - "Yes".
But perhaps the bigger question is whether that next bout will take place in the UFC.
He was humbled in super-quick fashion by Gall on his Octagon debut, leading many observers to state that the former WWE star had no place in the biggest MMA organisation in the world.
But despite that baptism of fire Punk says he wants another crack in the UFC, but admits that decision lies with the UFC, rather than him.
"To me, yeah, but that's up to Dana," he revealed.
"I had a good conversation with him, I told him, 'Hey, if you want to cut me, yeah I get it. But I'm fighting whether it's for you or somebody else.'"
And it's that desire to keep fighting that may well keep him on the UFC's books.
Regardless of his lack of experience as a professional fighter, CM Punk is undoubtedly a draw, with pro wrestling fans likely to still be interested in following the former WWE champion's tough journey into mixed martial arts.
The fact that he's determined to continue on that path means he'd be a valuable acquisition for one of the UFC's main rivals, Bellator, and that might be enough to convince the UFC's top brass to keep him around in the promotion.
"I told him (White) I want to fight again," Punk explained.
"We're back at it, we're back to the drawing board. It's up to him."
And Punk hinted that something could be in the works to allow him to continue fighting under the UFC banner, with UFC president White presenting him with a potential avenue to keep him in the UFC.
"He floated me an idea, and we're kind of going back and forth on it right now," he revealed
"I'm at the point where I kind of want to get something on paper, so you might hear an announcement in the coming weeks, I really don't know."
"Until anything is official, I don't want to say either way what he's thinking or saying, but, yeah, I'm pretty confident it'll be in the UFC."
