UFC wants Punk

And he signed!!! Hahahaha source had credit.

As a fan of Punk, a few factors will be interesting to me as he makes a move to MMA:

1. Health. He's been tore up physically from his stint WWE. How will he hold up to training full time in a professional environment with the sharks that compete in MMA.

2. Age. MMA is a young man's sport, with every champion on the current roster being under the age of 31. Punk is 36, but his body is probably older due to the beating he took in wrestling.

3. Experience: I know Punk has been training with Rener Gracie for a while and from what I've seen in his videos he's done with Rener, seems to at least be competent on the mat. But with that experience factor, you must consider weight cutting. Punk is coming from a "bigger is better" world, he's never had to worry about that, and that will certainly play a role in his recovery as fight time approaches.

From a perspective of a martial arts practitioner, Punk needs to get his ass in a good gym that can help him manage his weight cut successfully while filling him in on the gaps in his game (striking and takedown defense).

And before this turns into a comparison with Brock thread, let's go ahead and dispel a couple of things. Yes Brock was a successful amateur wrestler and a freak athlete, but Brock refused to do anything other than lift weights and work on his wrestling, that much was obvious since jump street. During that time he only learned idiot proof submissions. Punk doesn't have Brock's luxury of a thin division and massive athletic creditionals, so he will have to be smarter in his training. The 185 division is a very deep division, so the learning curve is going to be steep.

Dana has also went on record of stating that he won't throw Punk in with the top 15 in the division but rather someone with similar experience. Call that protecting your investment, but I look at this as Dana realizing Brock's hard fall from grace and not wanti g to make the same mistake with Punk, as they are two different guys with two different skill sets. Brock was fortunate enough to have a great skillset in place from a young age, but Punk doesn't have necessarily have the same skill set due to choosing pro wrestling first at a time when amateur wrestling was still an option. I think Punk is also realizing certain factors are against him and is turning off the "Best in the World" shtick and approaching this in a respectful manner.

Last thing is that even though Punk doesn't have Brock's athleticism, we as wrestling fans should understand before anyone else that they are professional entertainers in a very athletic form of entertainment. They still have to train and work out just as an athlete would to do the eye popping maneuvers we enjoy. That by my estimation makes Punk a professional athlete, and I think he will conduct himself in said manner.

I am interested to see how Punk will do, and by my estimation should do pretty well as long as he sets realistic goals for himself.

I'm still shocked!
Will watch his fights.

....I don't understand why so many people are saying he'll get his ass beat etc. when no-one has seen him fight yet(!).  WE DON'T KNOW how he'll do (that's part of the attraction). Plus, he won't be fighting a top contender - or even a fringe contender... he'll be fighting another newcomer or someone who's only had a couple of fights themselves.

He bitched about Ryback kicking him too hard in his ribs. Yet he'll be fighting guys deliberately trying to break bones and hurt him and knock him out. You do the math.

9/10 when you hear of somebody being stiff with someone they get them back. And by getting them back I don't mean getting on your friends podcast and bashing them.

That's true. I remember reading where Taker broke Chris Masters nose for not selling and I highly doubt Masters retaliated

I think it's a brilliant move for Punk and UFC. Dana White already said Punk will start against guys with similar records (aka Punk will start with some easy fights). In the time Punk can gain some confidence and experience which will help him beat a middle tier guy or two. He's got maybe 2 years before having to go up against some serious competition. At that point, it's a win win for him no matter what. If he gets beat he can bring up that he's pushing 40 and his body is worn down from years of wrestling. If he retires he can us the same excuse. He can take the high road and put over UFC and the younger fighters in a press conference.

Great business move all around.

What happen to the other 10 page thread about this? It disappears from the WWE section.