He gave it his all, but in the end he simply wasn’t good enough to hang in the UFC. And now, promotion President Dana White has mercifully put an end to the CM Punk Experiment.
If nothing else, CM Punk is a very positive fellow. Despite not getting a chance to speak in the octagon following his messy loss to Mike Jackson (who didn’t look all that great either in his second UFC outing), the man born Phil Brooks let fans see his sunny disposition in a post to his official Twitter account following UFC 225 on Saturday. And it seems Punk is holding his head high after the experience.
You win some, you lose some! I'm 1-1 this week and I'll take it! Thanks to my team, my family, my friends, and THE FANS! Wouldn't be here without any of you. Respect to @TheTruthJackson, thanks for the fight! You only live once, and… I'M ALIVE! pic.twitter.com/UPPGFpx4iS
— Coach (@CMPunk) June 10, 2018
“You win some, you lose some!” Punk began, though now 0-2 in both the UFC and his MMA career, the situation is a little more dire than that. To be honest, Punk probably never should have been given a second shot in the UFC, but the extra eyeballs covered by Endeavor saw to it that he did. The end result? A sloppy fight that went the distance with Mike Jackson, that proved Punk could score a takedown on a part-time fighter, and withstand a beating from a man who tired early and didn’t seem all that interested in a finish.
UFC President Dana White seemingly confirmed the end of the Punk experiment at the UFC 225 post-fight press conference. “It should be a wrap,” White said. “The guy’s thirty-nine years old. I love the guy. He’s the nicest guy in the world. We gave him two shots, and he had a lot of heart tonight in this fight, and yeah, I think he should call it a wrap.”
“I wouldn’t put that kid in the Contender Series,” was probably the most damning statement by White on CM Punk.
Whether Punk retires from MMA winless or not remains to be seen. There’s no doubt a smaller promotion would pick him up in a heartbeat, though the money he’d earn would be significantly smaller.
White was much more critical of the man who won the bout, Mike Jackson. “Michael Jackson I’m not happy with. This guy was acting like a goofball tonight,” said White. “You get this opportunity to fight CM Punk, and you’re doing, like, bolo punches to the body on top. Never looked like he was trying to finish the fight ever. Looked like he could have finished the fight a few times. Never tried.”
“I got the sense that he’s a complete f-cking idiot, and I couldn’t wait for that fight to end, and I regretted not putting that fight on Fight Pass,” he added. Which makes it sound very much as if Jackson, now 1-1 in the UFC, will not be invited back for a third fight despite the win.
