5 Reasons CM Punk Won’t Succeed in UFC
By Tim Sherry
WWE.com
3. Lack of a Combat Background
Most people that end up thriving in the world of MMA are people who already have some type of background in combat. You don’t have to look much further than the WWE to see that. Brock Lesnar made a pretty smooth transition into MMA based on the fact that he was a national wrestling champion at the collegiate level. An amateur wrestling base is the most common way to enter the ranks of MMA.
Even for older fighters like Punk, the switch to MMA is much easier with some combat experience. At 34 years old, UFC legend Randy Couture made his foray into MMA after also being a collegiate champion as well as a 3-time Olympic alternate in Greco-Roman wrestling. He’d go on to win 5 UFC championships, his last one coming at age 42.
Cung Le is another example but from a different discipline. Before getting into MMA, Le was one of the most decorated martial artists in the world, displaying his acumen in Sanshou kickboxing on professional stages for close to a decade. This would translate into vicious MMA striking as he laid waste to his first 6 opponents all by way of knockout before capturing the StrikeForce Middleweight Championship.
The list goes on and on. Damien Maia (Judo, Brazilian Ju Jitsu), Georges St. Pierre (Kyokushin Karate), Lyoto Machida (Shotokan Karate), Fedor Emelianenko (Sambo), Anderson Silva (Muay Thai). Punk has none of these. Outside of 18 months of twice-interrupted training, he’ll be going into his fight as about as amateur as gets. Unless Duke Roufus is a miracle worker, this could be a very long, or a very quick night for Punk.
Next: No. 2