It’s probably fair to say that Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks’ UFC career didn’t quite go as planned.
The professional wrestler, now back on the WWE roster after an extended absence (even if injury is precluding his activity as an in-ring performer currently), competed in two UFC bouts between 2016 and 2018 — losing both, even if his second to Mike Jackson was changed to a no-contest after Jackson subsequently tested positive for marijuana metabolites.
But now seemingly rejuvenated ahead of his first WrestleMania appearance in more than a decade where he will ‘host’ elements of the two-day event, Punk is glad that he gave his mixed martial arts ambitions a proper go, even if it didn’t pan out as he had hopd.
“I asked my wife the other day, because I said something, I was just like, ‘What was I, 35 when I fought?’” he said Monday during an extended in-studio interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “And she was just like, ‘Oh no, you were 36 or 37.’ I just went, ‘What the f*ck was I thinking?’”
“I’m glad I did it,” he added. “Zero regrets. I shouldn’t have fought in Chicago, because of the worst two weeks of my life. Easily the worst two weeks of my life. I couldn’t cut weight properly. I still made weight. I’m proud of myself for that. I’m an ambitious guy.”
His second UFC outing against Jackson in his hometown of Chicago came in the midst of a legal dispute with fellow pro wrestler Colt Cabana related to a disagreement over the payment of legal fees following comments made by Punk on Cabana’s podcast over alleged medical negligence by a WWE-employed doctor.
But with issue layered upon media obligations, weight-cutting and everything else that goes into a UFC fight week, Punk said he is more than satisfied with how he reacted to the scenario.
“I get it, it’s easy to ‘LOL’ and make fun of me,” he said. “Some people look at that and be like, ‘That’s embarrassing.’ I f*cking made the weight. I made the walk. I am 100 percent proud of myself, and I would do it again, because that was me at my absolute worst, and I did it. You want to call me a loser, that’s cool, but I was stoked I got that opportunity, and I was stoked I did it.”
