Anthony Pettis says CM Punk has ‘definitely gotten better’ since UFC debut

Former WWE star turned mixed martial artist CM Punk has kept relatively quiet since losing his UFC debut to Mickey Gall in September 2016.

That was until earlier this month, when Punk came to the forefront of attention in the MMA world when he announced on Twitter that he would be fighting at UFC 225 in June. The card takes place in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and the 39-year-old is expected to face Mike Jackson in his return. Much like Punk, Jackson has an 0-1 record in the UFC, with the loss being to Gall.

On Monday, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who is a training partner of Punk’s training partner at Roufusport, spoke to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about how he expects to see a better version of Punk when he returns.

“I see him every day, man. That guy’s in the gym every day. He’s probably one of the hardest workers in the gym. He’s always there, always improving, and yeah, he’s definitely gotten better. You put that much time into [the game], you’re going to get better. He’s working the gi, he’s working no-gi. He’s training with top-level UFC guys inside his weight class, so I think we should see a better performance.”

According to Pettis, Punk is always in the gym, pushing himself and working hard. The results clearly speak for themselves, as Punk was awarded his blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu by Daniel Wanderley in December of last year.

“It doesn’t surprise me. He’s a competitor, man. And he loves the grind. I don’t know what else he’d be doing if he wasn’t doing this. He’s just, he’s always in the gym.

“So in the short time I’ve known him for his first fight to this fight, it’s the same, the dude is just pushing hard, man. He’s grinding, he’s getting better, he’s putting the mat time in, and there’s no way around getting better besides putting the mat time in.”