CM Punk says he's in no rush to make UFC debut
Former WWE superstar and current UFC stable member Phil "CM Punk" Brooks insisted that he's in MMA for the long haul. Training full-time at Roufusport for the past six months, Brooks recently told the Anik and Florian podcast he's looking to get as prepared as possible before making his UFC debut.
"I'm also looking at the big picture. This isn't a one and done thing for me. I'm not looking to do this just once. Win, lose or draw, this is something I'm training for. I feel like it'd be a super waste of time if I was just training for one fight rather than making a career out of this. Getting beaten up at the gym every day wouldn't be worth it if I wasn't looking big picture," he said.
"I'm not saying I'm going to make a title run or anything. [But] I am looking to maximize my time here. If I wind up fighting in 2016, I'm not going to be upset about it."
Brooks said he constantly is asked when he'll fight but knows it will take time to have a chance of doing well inside the Octagon. His coach, Duke Roufus, isn't rushing him, and Brooks insists the UFC isn't either.
"I'm obviously trying to cram a ton of knowledge into a short amount of time. People ask me every day when I'm fighting and the answer is always, 'I don't know yet.' We haven't even talked about it," Brooks said. "The idea was to get as prepared as I possibly can.
"I'm learning a lot every day. I hear people saying training for a fight is harder than the actual fight. If that's true, then once I step in the Octagon, I will have no problem whatsoever. ... I know Duke has told me, and I think he's been public with it, that he would like me for a full 12 months before he'd sign off on me fighting.
"I think a lot of people are antsy. There's people on Twitter saying, 'Oh, you're never gonna fight.' This was just announced in what, November, December? I've been training full time for like six months. As bad as I have the itch to get in there, I want to be as prepared as possible. I wouldn't be upset if it got pushed to 2016."
