Chael Sonnen dives into the story that is CM Punk in the UFC.
In the fall of 2016, former WWE superstar CM Punk stepped into the octagon for the first time at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall. Punk was submitted via a "rear naked choke" two minutes into the first round of the fight. Fast forwarding two years later and CM Punk has an upcoming fight against Mike Jackson on June 9th at UFC 225 in Punk's hometown of Chicago, IL.
One man who has June 9th circled on his calender and has his eyes locked in on the forthcoming fight is the 30-15 Chael Sonnen. In one of his 'Beyond The Fight' videos on his personal YouTube channel, Sonnen broke down the story of CM Punk in UFC and although Punk has only had one fight, Sonnen dove into the hype that came with the former WWE superstar, and weighed in on how he views the matchup between Punk & Jackson.
"I've always liked the CM Punk story, and I've always thought the story was mistold." Sonnen stated. "It was always kind of a perception that you were getting a big-name guy, coming over, who was gonna suck all the air out of the room just because he's a big-name guy and doesn't deserve it. I'm seeing the same thing happened to Ronda going over to WWE, and there is some truth to it. But in CM Punk's case, he was willing to put it on the line. I mean he stepped away from wrestling. I know he had his contract dispute with Vince and maybe it wasn't all his all his choice, maybe it was maybe we'll never get that whole story," he continued, "I don't know if it makes any difference. He committed fully and immersed himself to this goal in the sport of MMA. I think that was pretty cool and a brave thing to do. He went out there, way over his head, and tried. And when it didn?t go his way he said, ?I wanna try again?. He didn't go back to the fake wrestling, he didn?t go do any of that stuff. He could have... someone try that again. Continued to immerse himself, continued to sacrifice, and now he?s gonna take his shirt off in his hometown and walk out there again. You make your own decision on that but that is the story. It's not the other way around that this big star came over and he's leaving with all the money and all the attention and all the, you know, filling up the main card and taking spots and opportunities away from other people its not that... he?s given an opportunity. There was an opportunity given to Mickey Gall, and now to Jackson. I mean there is an opportunity when you can be across the ring from a guy who's gonna bring attention in. So bury Punk all you want just make sure that you do it with that information, and that you do it correctly if you want to pick on him you go right ahead. But that?s what?s happening."
Sonnen shared that he does not believe that there will be true a winner or a true loser in the bout. Chael then went on to state that the reason for Punk's shortcomings in his previous fight was that he came in with a lot of steam which automatically placed him a bad position when it came to matchmaking.
"I don't think there's any loser in this situation in my own opinion." He expressed. "I don't have to walk out there, I just don't think there's a loser in this situation. I think the fans get a little more something. I think CM Punk gets matched up a little more appropriately, that was the dark horse. Nobody knew what to do. Everybody?s vouching for him and they were largely vouching for him because he was famous and they wanted, you know, say nice things about a cool guy. I think that built an allure that harmed him in the matchmaking. So now we've seen it, we've got some footage, got him an opponent that they think is appropriate. Doesn?t mean they think he?s gonna win, doesn?t mean they think he?s gonna lose. If they think they got him an appropriate opponent then those guys can go figure it out. I don?t really know if I have an opinion on who I think is going to win the fight, but I?m glad its happening." Chael stated. "I don?t think its screwing up rankings, any divisions. Is it a little spoofy? Is it a little gimmicky? Yeah its all of those things. Yeah every now and then, Dana will go do something like that. Every now and then he?ll do a James Tony, every now and then he?ll bring a CM Punk. But every now and then, you know, Lesnar was a little gimmicky too. It just happened to work and took him all the way to a world championship. So, you don?t always know. If you got the right guy and he?s willing to put in the work, you can get a mandate from the masses that say we?re willing to buy a ticket, and you give him his shot. Now you?ve got to spread those time periods out, we?re in one right now, I?m all for it."
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If you are going to use any of the quotes above, please credit Chael Sonnen's YouTube channel, with an H/T to Fightful.com for the transcriptions.