In an interview with the Associated Press, UFC president Dana White stated that he will opt to give Phil Brooks a.k.a CM Punk a second fight in the UFC.
White was quoted as stating, “I like that guy. He’s a good dude. He wants one more. He wants to get another shot. I’m going to give it to him”.
The UFC announced the signing of the former WWE talent in December 2014 and he quickly joined the Roufusport camp out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Punk experienced a series of setbacks due to injury but finally made his UFC debut in September 2016 at the UFC 203 pay-per-view against Mickey Gall.
Punk was outclassed in the contest against a skilled fighter in Gall and was stopped in the opening round of the bout.
While Punk was not seen as ready for UFC caliber opponents, he did demonstrate an ability to draw that few inside of the promotion could. The pay-per-view, which was headlined by Stipe Miocic defending the heavyweight title against Alistair Overeem, did in excess of 425,000 buys. The strong number was credited to the added buys Punk added to a show that would have likely done well under 300,000 buys without him.
In the same interview, White was also optimistic about a return of Brock Lesnar to the UFC. Lesnar’s contract with the WWE will expire later this year. Lesnar last fought for the promotion in July 2016 and defeated Mark Hunt by unanimous decision. The win was tainted in the aftermath of the event after it was revealed that Lesnar failed both an out-of-competition and a fight night drug test. As a result, Lesnar still has a portion of this suspension he would have to serve before he could be licensed to fight again. The former UFC heavyweight champion will turn 41 years old this July.
