New York Mets

CM Punk compares UFC debut to Tim Tebow signing with the Mets

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:13 p.m. ET

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Damon Martin

Just hours before CM Punk walked onto the stage for the final press conference ahead of his UFC debut on Saturday night, Tim Tebow inked a minor league contract to play for the New York Mets.

Tebow is transitioning to baseball after a lifetime spent as a football player and he's faced plenty of detractors who said he could never make the switch and actually be successful at another sport.

Punk understands that pain all too well after he decided to quit the WWE and make a move to mixed martial arts with no prior fight experience under his belt. In a strange kinship of sorts, Punk might actually be rooting for Tebow to succeed because they are both bucking the odds by following their dreams and doing something they love, even if nobody wants to believe in them.

"He signed with the Mets? Good for him. I think that's great. That's awesome," Punk said about Tebow on Thursday. "Symmetry? Yeah, maybe."

Punk says his transition to the UFC — much like Tebow's pursuit of pro baseball — has been fraught with people trying to tear them down by saying they could never do it successfully.

Acccording to Punk, the worst mistake either of them could make would be to listen to those detractors. Instead, Punk is two days away from stepping into the Octagon for the first time and Tebow just signed a minor league contract with a pro team just like he wanted.

"It's like Michael Jordan went from playing basketball to playing baseball, 'oh baseball's too hard, he's not going to be able to do it'. I'm awkward and uncoordinated and I'm old and I'm fat and I'm lazy and I suck and I was a fake athlete and I'm not going to be able to do it. If you believe all that stuff, you're not going to be able to do it," Punk said.

"I'm sure Tim Tebow can hit a ball. I think that's great."

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