CM Punk says that his wife AJ Lee may join him in the UFC as Joe Rogen slammed the former wrestler for his perceived lack of mixed-martial arts skills.
Punk was asked during a recent UFC 182 question-and-answer session who he sees joining him at the UFC, and he admitted that he couldn’t count out Lee as a possibility.
He also named Daniel Bryan as another possible transfer. Punk also lauded Brock Lesnar for paving a path for WWE wrestlers to transfer over to UFC, although he emphasized the differences between him and Lesnar.
“I’m a friend of Brock, and what he did is absolutely remarkable; I am in no way trying to follow in his footsteps,” Punk said. “I’m not thinking about a title, I’m not thinking about anything past right now training my ass off for that first fight. …Me and Brock Lesnar are two different people. He’s an animal – and I’m a smaller animal.”
Punk also confirmed that he'll be training at the Roufusport Martial Arts Academy in Milwaukee under famed coach Duke Roufus.
“I’ve known Duke for a while, the familiarity was an easy in and we just discussed a couple of things and I realize that me going anywhere to train with anybody – there’s pluses and minuses,” Punk said. “It’s the same with me walking into a camp that’s established, and that’s a very established camp. Dare I say one of the elite.”
Ben Askren, the wrestling coach at the academy, says that he has no problem with Punk, despite his criticism of the signing. “If you read what I wrote, right, it was aimed at the UFC, not ‘CM Punk.’ You can’t be mad at someone because the UFC decides to pay them a bunch of money. More power to him,” Asken told Fox News.
He was referring to his tweet, in which he said: “@ufc sign a fake wrestler, but not an Olympian who is the best WW in the world. Amateur move.”
Asken said Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, will be “another student.”
