In a recent interview with Matt Serra and Jim Norton on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, former WWE Superstar CM Punk spoke on a variety of topics, including his upcoming mixed martial arts (MMA) debut at UFC 203, his Twitter haters amongst his sudden career change, and the WWE’s ‘over-scripted’ promos:
On his Twitter haters amongst his UFC signing:
“I would much rather listen to my wife, my friends, my trainers, my team. I’m not the best at this. No s***. I know that. I want to f****** give it a shot, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I tend to find the most success fighters” … “they’re the ones that are like, f*** it, go for it. Good for you kid, do your thing. But I understand both points of view, I really do. I understand some of these guys that aren’t making what they probably should make, and they see a guy like me come in and get the red carpet rolled out for me. But at the end of the day, it’s still going to be a f****** fist fight in a cage. And if I lose, then they can laugh at me on Twitter. And if I win, good for me.”
On the difference between competing in the WWE and in the UFC:
“In wrestling you’re trying to make it look like you’re smashing a guy without touching them at all.” … “There’s a chance you might get jabbed in the face, lose a tooth. You don’t know what the other guy is gonna do sometimes. Some guys are safer than others, is all I’m saying. I’ve worked with my share of unsafe guys. And that’s not to say that they have the mentality that they’re going to go in there and hurt me; some guys are just clumsy.”
On critics who claim Punk isn’t taking his MMA career seriously:
“It would be amazing if I was just like, f*** it, and I didn’t train, and I didn’t learn anything and just ate hot dogs on my couch, and just didn’t make weight. I’d still get paid! I’m working hard, and I’m taking this very seriously.
On today’s WWE promos:
“The interviews and the promos people remember, those are improv. Now, wrestling’s just over-scripted to death. It’s almost like they’ve got a choke hold on it. Some guys need to operate that way, and I feel like some people need to let loose and be themselves. You’ve got a whole room of guys writing for you; they don’t know you, they don’t know your perspective or your character. If you’re out there being disingenuous, saying words that three other people wrote, I always felt that the crowd could tell, and they’re going to pay attention to their phones, or s*** on whatever segment you’re in. I was always just a big fan of doing my own thing.”
(All transcribed quotes courtesy of Wrestle Zone)
