CM Punk explains his move to MMA in his own words

CM Punk penned an article in The Player’s Tribune on the bliss in finding his passion for MMA.  Punk has been the headliner this week for UFC despite it being his first fight in the UFC.

While Punk should be better prepared than James Toney when he fought Randy Couture at UFC 118, we all may conclude that this is a gimmick fight despite what the UFC may say.  If Punk was Phil Brooks, aspiring MMA fighter, he wouldn’t be given the privilege of a PPV fight right off the bat.  He’d have to prove himself in smokers, amateur fights and on the regional scene before he would get a shot with the UFC.  He is a heavy underdog against Mickey Gall.  The 24-year-old has just one UFC fight (2 pro fights altogether) after being “discovered” on Dana White’s UFC Fight Pass reality show.  Aside from giving up 13 years in age and millions of dollars in career earnings, Gall should have every advantage in the Octagon to Punk.

Yet, Punk explains in his post on his love of MMA and the reasons why it’s far better than his life as WWE superstar CM Punk.

Certainly, finding your passion equals happiness.  But, like most everyone else in the world, Punk’s dream job was paved through a turbulent road with a crappy former job.  Although Punk did not explicitly discuss his time in the WWE, there were enough inferences that even a non-WWE fan could tell he is in a much better place than when he made much more money with the WWE.

FS1 aired a 3-part series on Punk and his training for Saturday’s fight so there’s a certain belief that his celebrity as a pro wrestler would garner interest in this event.  Despite the main event being Stipe Miocic making his first heavyweight title defense in his hometown, Punk has been the main story line. We shall see if attaching his name to the card equates to a bump in PPV buys.

Payout Perspective:

The Player’s Tribune is an outlet for an athlete to handle its own PR without the filter of a journalist to tell their story.  It’s a great source for first person accounts from an athlete’s perspective but one has to read it knowing that it does not tell the full story. In Punk’s case, it’s a good read that tells you why he is doing it.  Of course, what’s left out is the fact that in general fighter pay is low in the UFC compared to revenues and they are treated as independent contractors like in the WWE.  Thus far, it does not appear a “hack journalist” has asked about the seemingly parallel between his current contractor (UFC) and his former contractor (WWE).  Would be interesting questions to ask of him.  Of course, the story is too good thus far to ask these questions.