Former WWE superstar CM Punk announced on Saturday night that he was signing for the UFC and it’s difficult to know what to make of it given that he has no previous MMA experience.
It is well known that he’s been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a few years though and there are a few people who’ve trained with him in that discipline or know him personally, so we’ve collated a few of their opinions about him below to offer at least a little glimpse as to his skills and his mindset heading into this deal.
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Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal:
“I just saw him grappling, and he looks like a jiu-jitsu guy. He looks like a brown belt; he moves real well on the mat. He’s real smooth.”
Cole Miller:
“I’ve trained with @CMPunk he will beat guys in the @ufc. All the haters can suck it.”
Rener Gracie:
CM Punk has been training with us here at the academy on and off for several years now on and off with jiu-jitsu He obviously lives in Chicago so it’s hard for him to get here as often as he’d like, but man…
“This is the kind of guy that will literally do something only because people say he can’t or shouldn’t do it. This will without a question the biggest challenge and will be the most difficult endeavour and task of his entire life.”
“The crazy thing is that he knows that. That’s pretty much the reason he wants to do it. That guy that wants to climb the mountain that they say you can’t climb.”
Brendan Schaub:
“My advice for him was not to announce it so soon. Train, do a full camp without a fight and see how you feel and see how you stack up with…even just some lower level amateur guys or even a guy with one or two fights, and then take it from there.”
“It’s tough for me, because If he wasn’t in the Gracie family I’d probably roast the guy pretty good, but I’m being cool because of Rener and Ryron.”
Chael Sonnen:
“To me, CM Punk’s friend and a supporter, I think it’s cool. He’s 36 and he wants to do this. He really has a passion to want to do it. He is not particularly worried about the outcome as much as he is the experience and the effort.”
“I’m not going to come out and try and sell this and I don’t think anybody else is, ‘hey this is the next great untapped talent.’ This is a guy that has some fame and publicity that is getting to live his dream.”
