'Cowboy' Cerrone: 'Who am I to say CM Punk is a joke?'
Just about anybody and everybody on the UFC roster has an opinion about Phil 'CM Punk' Brooks joining the promotion following his stint as a professional wrestler with no actual fight experience.
Brooks has been touring media circles this week and heard about a few different fighters, including Nate Diaz and Matt Brown, who are not all that excited that he's going to be competing alongside them next year.
During the past couple of weeks since he signed with the UFC, Brooks has been upfront and honest in addressing detractors and understanding where all of them are coming from.
Well, it seems at least one very high-profile UFC fighter has his back.
Count UFC lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone as a fighter who doesn't have a problem at all with Brooks joining the promotion. He took to Twitter this week to invite the former WWE superstar to visit his BMF Ranch in New Mexico to work on his mixed martial arts game ahead of his debut in 2015.
"I want some of that WWE money out there at the house. So I told them to bring him in," Cerrone joked when talking about Brooks to FOX Sports on Friday.
The reality of the situation goes beyond bringing a high-profile professional wrestler to give Cerrone's training facility a boost in the public eye. He's not sure why everyone is so down on giving Brooks a chance.
No one knows what he's going to do until he gets in there and does it. Until then, Cerrone says opinions should be left by the wayside.
"Who's saying he's not the next guy? How do you know? No one knows," Cerrone said. "No one knows what he's got inside until he gets in there and does it. Who am I to say CM Punk is a joke? I don't f--king know. Son of a b--ch went out there and made millions pretend-wrestling.
"Maybe we should trade jobs. I'll do a little leotard-wearing, top-rope-elbow dropping. Get some money."
While almost every word out of Cerrone's mouth is accompanied by a smile, this isn't a laughing matter for the top-five-ranked lightweight.
He would gladly welcome Brooks into his camp and if there were a few fringe benefits to go along with it, well Cerrone wouldn't exactly turn those down either.
"We would open the bank account," Cerrone said with a laugh. "Tell him to come on in."
