WWE superstar Phil Brooks, AKA CM Punk’s brief UFC career did not go the way he had planned, but the ‘Second City Savior’ claims to have borrowed a lot from the Dana White-led organization.
Speaking to former UFC double champ ahead of his first WrestleMania main event last weekend, Punk claimed that, as fans who went to sporting events like football, soccer, or hockey, people get swept away in the magnitude of the moment.
And as great as that experience is, Punk notes that if they aren’t part of the business, they miss the little things that trained eyes do not.
“There are moments that a lot of civilians won’t be privy to, things backstage. Especially as a broadcaster, you see things differently now than when you were in the cage“, he tells DC as the two get into a spirited discussion about what professional wrestling could learn from the UFC.
“So, to be where I am at, in this company, to be able to go to the UFC… I kind of move a little bit differently, I look at things different things. I watch Bruce Buffer – I watch how he moves in the cage,” notes Punk, stressing that there are lessons in production techniques.
“So, everybody from behind the scenes to all the fighters, putting their gloves on, you guys- the commentators… I see how you guys operate and we can 100% apply that to our world”, he adds.
Even though he asserts that the “real world” (UFC) is different from the “real make-believe world” (WWE), professional wrestling promotions can take elements of the things the UFC has really dialled into.
“I see stuff like that all the time, and I try to bring that over. Even if it’s camera shots or production stuff or how people get interviewed post-fight, we need to do that more here in wrestling“, he claims.
Notably, Punk’s last UFC appearance was during UFC 311, where Merab Dvalishvili defeated Umar Nurmagomedov for his first title defense.
However, for his interviewer, DC, this was just another day at work with UFC’s sister company, WWE. The former UFC champion was a part of WrestleMania 41. Unlike last time, he was in the audience (Wrestlemania 31), this time, Cormier was put in the second row.
DC brags about WWE backstage to Chael Sonnen
Back in 2015, during WrestleMania 31, when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, both DC and Sonnen were busy looking through the binoculars from the cheap seats. Or at least that’s what you would think happened the way the pair described it last week.
“I got my tickets from Jack Swagger (former WWE wrestler Jake Hager). I drove all the way up there, figuring I would be hooked up. He put me in the top row“, Sonnen complained.
Cormier took it a step further and claimed that he had been stuck so far up in the crowd that he actually got hit by a bird.
However, since then, Cormier has been a part of WWE’s programming, having featured in a guest referee spot between Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins in 2022.
In fact, this is why DC claims he had the credentials to go hang out backstage and let his kids have lunch with the Usos.
And how did he just manage that?
“You [have] gotta walk around like you belong, man! Show no weakness, Chael. Don’t geek out, man. Don’t embarrass me and like freak out and start acting like a child. Act like you belong, he advised Sonnen.
Sonnen’s idea, meanwhile, was simple. If anyone tried getting handsy with them, he would kick them straight in the precious pearls.
