UFC
Conor McGregor on CM Punk signing with UFC: "When I heard the broadcast announcement I saw a man afraid"
Dec 15, 2014 - 11:55:33 AM Conor McGregor on CM Punk signing with UFC: "When I heard the broadcast announcement I saw a man afraid"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I don't have no problem with it. If you bring something with you to the table, you get a seat. I feel a lot of fighters feel they get in and get signed by three letters: U-F-C. And that gives them a certain right, but you must bring something to the table.

As far as the CM Punk thing, he has a different fanbase, the WWE fans. To be honest, it's weird to me to let an amateur come in and do it in the pro game. I mean, who knows what his skill level is like? I would like to see it the way they done it with [former UFC heavyweight champion] Brock [Lesnar]. Brock had one or two fights in the smaller league. Brock was a different animal all together. He had Division 1 All-American wrestling status. He was a freestyle wrestling champion. Plus he was a f***ing monster of a man.

CM Punk? I don't know. Listening to him speak, when I heard the broadcast announcement I saw a man afraid. Like he signed up for something he didn't want to be. When the shin bone cracks the body or the elbow cracks or the heel cracks... It doesn't get much more real than that. Personally, I don't think he should be in this league just yet, but again, you bring asses to the seats, you bring eyeballs to the screen and we will give you a shot."

-Conor McGregor gives his thoughts on the UFC signing CM Punk in an interview with Severe MMA (transcribed by David St. Martin at MMAFighting.com).

Penick's Analysis: As a fighter whose buzz is getting him bigger opportunities at a faster clip than most, McGregor's got the right idea on Punk getting a shot as a draw. The concerns are certainly about Punk's health at this stage, though. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say Punk looked afraid in his interviews, because just signing and putting himself out there for the criticism this was going to bring took enormous guts. That said, while he may not be afraid, he's absolutely uncertain, and that's to be expected. He's very clearly a bit in over his head, because there's a lot yet to be done to get him into position for a fight. He has a lot of work ahead of him in the next year if he's actually going to step foot in the cage, so on that end it's possible his trepidation on what's to come could be construed in the way McGregor took it.