MILWAUKEE – Next week’s UFC 203 card features a heavyweight title fight at the top of the bill in the champ’s home city.
But the fight that seems to be on everyone’s mind – not that the heavyweight championship isn’t, too – is the MMA debut of Phil “CM Punk” Brooks (0-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who meets Mickey Gall (2-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) smack dab in the middle of the UFC 203 pay-per-view on Sept. 10 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
To say Punk’s UFC debut has been under a microscope might be an understatement. The former WWE champion got his shot in the UFC without any other pro MMA experience based largely on his name. And to say that rubbed some of his fellow fighters – and a lot of fans – the wrong way might be an understatement, too.
But Punk today said he’s been putting in the work at Duke Roufus’ gym in Milwaukee, and he knows what he’s capable of when it’s finally time to step in the cage. (His debut was delayed by a long overdue back surgery that he said improved his quality of life, regardless of his standing in MMA.)
“This will be miscontrued as a quote if you’re just reading it, but I very much have a ‘I can’t wait till it’s over feeling,'” Punk told MMAjunkie. “I want to get it over with because I’m ready – I feel ready. Being here every day for five hours a day has made me feel that way. It feels nice, like a relief. There’s a calm – I’m excited, a little bit of nervous energy. But it’s all positive.”
Punk said he’s not concerned about the expectations of anyone – especially those who want to count him out before he even gets in the cage.
He hears the talk. He knows he has detractors. But he said he just wants to live up to what he believes he can do, and what Roufus and his teammates believe he can do.
“I don’t know what the expectations are,” Punk said. “I know what my expectations are. I know what my team and my coach – what they expect out of me. I think it depends on what corner of the media or the Internet you look at to see what the expectations are. People expect me to get knocked out. People expect me to get starched in 30 seconds. The people who see me work here every day expect me to win.”
One of the people who sees him go to work every day is former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who this past Saturday made his featherweight debut with a submission win over Charles Oliveira at UFC on FOX 21.
Pettis said Punk has been working with the right people to set himself up for success in the UFC now that his debut finally is around the corner.
“None of the (pro) wrestling, none of the talking, none of that stuff is going to help him in the octagon,” Pettis told MMAjunkie. “Hype is good, cameras are good – but once that door closes, it’s all about what he did the last two years training with us. He’s gotten a lot better. When he came in here, he wasn’t ready for a UFC fight. … He got with the right people. Tyron Woodley, the (UFC) 170-pound champ, trains with these guys right here. These guys are some beasts, and he’s out here holding his own.”
But next Saturday, it will be one thing to impress his fans. It’ll be another to impress his haters. And another to impress his UFC peers, his coach, his teammates.
But at the end of the day, Punk said there’s really only one person he’s hoping to impress.
“My expectations are to win – go out there, whether it goes three rounds, whether it goes three seconds, that’s what I expect,” he said. “I expect to show up in the best shape of my life, happiest I’ve ever been, and happy looking in the mirror before the fight knowing: ‘Job well done.'”
