Chael Sonnen: The CM Punk MMA story ‘has been mistold’

When the UFC announced CM Punk’s signing in late 2014, the news was not received well by both fans and fighters alike. No one seemed to be on board with the idea of a former WWE star venturing into the biggest stage of MMA with zero prior experience.

Nate Diaz, for one, was not at all pleased about it.

“I don’t think you should just let some millionaire WWE guy just come on over and play a little game, like have fun with his career,” Diaz said in a 2014 interview. I’m over here busting my ass, fighting for 10 years and doing my thing and having a serious job that I have to do for this. And this guy is going to come over and probably get paid more than everyone in the room.”

But for the likes of Chael Sonnen, Punk’s entry into the UFC and professional mixed martial arts may have been looked at the wrong way by most observers, as he gave his own take on it.

“I’ve always liked the CM Punk story, and I’ve always thought the story was mistold,” Sonnen said on his very own Beyond the Fight podcast. “It was always kind of a perception that you were getting a big-named guy coming over, who was going to suck all the air out of the room. Just because he’s a big-named guy, he doesn’t deserve it.”

“In CM Punk’s case, he was willing to put it on the line,” Sonnen continued. “He committed fully and immersed himself to this goal in the sport of MMA. And that was a pretty cool and brave thing to do. He went out there, way over his head, and tried. And when it didn’t go his way, he said ‘I want to try again.’”

“He didn’t go back to the fake wrestling; he didn’t go do any of that stuff. He could have. (Instead), he said ‘I want to try that again,’ continued to immerse himself, continued to sacrifice, and now he’s gonna take off his shirt in his hometown and walk out there.”

Sonnen adds that this angle should be looked at more, instead of the one where Punk was made to come off like he barged in and took away the opportunities from others on the roster.

“That is the story,” Sonnen said. “It’s not the other way around that this big star came over and he’s leaving with all the money and all the attention and filling up the main card, taking spots and opportunities away from other people. It’s not that.”

Punk’s second UFC fight has been scheduled to take place against Mike Jackson at UFC 225on June 9^th in Chicago.