Former WWE heavyweight champion CM Punk recently went off on his former boss, WWE Chairman/CEO Vince McMahon, claiming that he would not allow him to walk Chael Sonnen down to the Octagon since MMA is too "barbaric" and somebody could "die."
Speaking on semi-retired pro wrestler Colt Cabana's podcast (h/t MMA Fighting) on Wednesday, Punk—whose real name is Phil Brooks—discussed why McMahon never allowed him to walk his friend Sonnen out to his UFC on FOX 2 bout with Michael Bisping in his hometown of Chicago:
Oh my God, Phil. No, we can't do that. That's barbaric. Somebody is going to die. Then I had to remind him, "I don't know if you remember Owen Hart or not, because he sort of died in your ring."
"Tomorrow is the Royal Rumble so it'll get some last-minute buys and whether Chael wins or loses, no offense to Chael, nobody is going to be talking about him. They're going to be talking about the WWE champion walking him to the Octagon."
Hart died in the WWE ring back in 1999 due to a tragic equipment accident as he was entering the ring from an elevated harness grapple line. It malfunctioned as he was in mid-air.
In the same interview, Punk claims that the UFC gave him the green light to accompany Sonnen to the cage, adding that the WWE delivered his pink slip in the mail. He received it on his wedding day in June.
The 36-year-old, who hasn't appeared on WWE programming since January, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt under Rener Gracie. He also noted on Cabana's podcast that his termination contract had a one-year no-compete clause that would prevent him from signing with the UFC.
Given Punk's lack of combat sports experience, though, he would more than likely have to work his way up the regional MMA circuit before the UFC brass would take him seriously as a professional fighter.
Sonnen, who recently said on his podcast (h/t MMA Fighting) that he turned down a $5 million contract from the WWE, won the January bout with Bisping via a close decision.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
