Have World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fans forgotten about CM Punk?
All-around wrestling legend, "Honky Tonk Man," seems to think whatever popularity he walked away from at the height of his professional wrestling fame will not help his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) draw because he's taking too long to make his Octagon debut.
As a result, the legions of fans he had in WWE have probably lost interest in him by now, which means the cross-over audience won't tune in to see his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut. In addition, Honky Tonk is skeptical that Punk can "make it" in the combat sport based on Brock Lesnar's ... failure?
Seriously.
"Why in the world would this guy, who is at the top of the mountain, making more money than he's ever made anywhere -- came up the hard way, through the independents, Ring of Honor -- walk way and now wanting to be an MMA or UFC fighter? Where that comes from, I do not know. Will he make it in the UFC? I don't know. Listen, Brock Lesnar didn't make it in the UFC, where does CM Punk fit in? I don't see it. I really don't see it. The thing is this, and maybe he doesn't realize it; out of sight, out of mind. Off of WWE TV for, as were taping now August 2015, it's been almost a year. Will that fan base from WWE watch him? Maybe he will get a little bit of interest, but as far as tens of thousands of people tuning in to watch CM Punk's first fight, I do not see it happening. I don't see it, out of sight, out of mind. If he had went straight from WWE while he was still hot after leaving the company, then go straight in and fight right way, sure he would have had an impact. I don't see the impact now."
Jumping straight into the Octagon wouldn't have been a wise idea for Punk -- he admitted he has no real experience in MMA, so taking on a fight at that time would have been disastrous. At the end of the day, taking the time to get some world-class training under his belt at Roufusport at the expense of having some fans forget about him seems like a good personal sacrifice.
UFC's marketing machine might beg to differ.
As far as Lesnar, Honky Tonk is terribly misinformed -- he did "make it" with UFC, claiming the Heavyweight strap by knocking out Randy Couture in 2008 and defending it twice (Frank Mir and Shane Carwin) before coughing it up to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in 2010.
And while he did go out with two losses, it's safe to say "The Beast Incarnate" made an impact on the sport ... and UFC's bottomline. Whether or not Punk -- clearly not an athletic freak of nature like Lesnar -- follows suit remains to be seen.
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