Former pro-wrestler CM Punk is still in the early stages of his training at the Roufusport gym as he attempts to make a transition to fighting in the UFC, but information is emerging about how he’s doing so far, and what his plans are for his debut fight.
Punk has been under respcted coach, Duke Roufus’ wing since early this year and initially began working on his basic striking technique, but he’s now reached a level where he’s been training with other fighters and has undergone his first bout at the gym.
According to Roufus, he was going up against a fighter with a 4-0 record and while he would have lost the bout had it been a ‘real’ fight, it appears he showed some promising signs.
Prior to this Punk’s background in martial arts had primarily been in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so he’s very much a work in progress, but his striking turned out to be more aggressive than Roufus had expected, showed courage under fire and demonstrated good cardio.
In other words it appears CM Punk has some good basic building blocks to be a fighter, but of course he’ll need a lot more than that if he hopes to emerge with his hand raised when he finally does get locked in the Octagon with an opponent for real.
With that in mind Roufus is in no rush and believes the pro-wrestler could ideally do with a full year of training before his first professional bout in the UFC. It remains to be seen whether the promotion will afford him that opportunity though. Currently a meeting is set for July to discuss his progress and the general feeling had been that he would probably get his first match-up towards the end of the year.
While a date for his debut remains up for debate, it does seem as if Punk has finally settled on a weight class for his first fight. Due to the intensity of his training he’s naturally been shedding weight so middleweight seems off the cards and he’s now targeting the welterweight division as his new home.
