While nothing has been confirmed, CM Punk‘s latest interview suggests that he may be done in UFC, if not MMA altogether.
On Monday, Punk spoke with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani and the subject of his future dominated the conversation. Punk is an ugly 0-2 in his UFC career and after his one-sided loss in June, UFC President Dana White publicly stated that Punk was probably done in the Octagon. It seems like the former UFC Champions is cool with that.
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“There’s absolutely no shame in taking a chance in your life, and I took a big chance… I feel like even speaking about this now there’s a finality to it, but I don’t want anybody to jump to conclusions and start making headlines. I gotta talk to Duke [Roufus, his coach], I gotta get back to training and I plan on doing that as soon as I wrap on this movie [the Souska sisters’ remake of David Cronenberg’s Rabid].
Punk mentioned he plans to talk to his coaches as well checking in with White eventually.
‘I don’t think it’s UFC or bust. But I’m in a weird position. There’s other places out there, but it’s just like – would I go? Should I go? … I still look at it like the world’s my oyster and I’m fortunate enough to be able to kind of pick and choose. I’ll be the first to admit, you know me, I’m brutally honest – it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to fight in the UFC again, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens,” he said.
Punk UFC presence has drawn plenty of criticism as many fans and fights claim he lacks the merit to compete at such a high level. The results of his two fights seem to underline that opinion yet Punk still isn’t ready permanently shut any doors.
“No, I got no idea [if Dana and UFC plan to release him]. He said after the first fight that I probably shouldn’t fight again and then I fought again, so we’ll see,” said Punk.
With Punk’s future so open, the inevitable question arose. Is he done with wrestling?
“That’s like an escape hatch… There’s just nothing that interests me in wrestling,” said Punk.
Punk was involved in an autograph signing the day before the September 1 All In event. While some hoped he’d find a way to be involved int eh show itself, Punk never showed. While the adage “never say never” certainly applies, it appears Punk is indeed done with the wrestling business.
[H/T Cagesideseats]
