Mike Jackson: I ‘carried’ CM Punk for three rounds and ‘cooked him’ at UFC 225

Welterweight fighter Mike Jackson got his first professional win on Saturday at UFC 225 againstCM Punk. His performance, however, was bombed with criticism, particularly by UFC presidentDana White.

White was displeased about how Jackson “goofed around” and did not try to finish the fight. In a recent interview with BloodyElbow.com, “The Truth” responded by arguing that he did not want to risk gassing out and end up losing.

I could’ve knocked him out eventually, but do I really want to risk gassing trying to knock this guy out? I didn’t want to take that chance. So I didn’t rush in for the kill. Who wants to be the guy to lose to CM Punk? I was very smart in my strategy. I realized I couldn’t get him out of there with the early first-round knockout, so plan B was just to beat him up — and that’s what I did.

But during another interview with MMAjunkie, Jackson offered a different response.

“I didn’t know how many more fights I was going to have in the UFC, so I wanted to go out there and cook him – and that’s what I did. I got all 15 minutes, and good for him,” Jackson said. “I hope this is going to be his last fight, so I wanted to go out there and maximize his experience, as well, and give him the most time. I gave him the most time, as well.”

“People are savages, man. They want me to go out there and give this dude brain damage,” he continued. “I could have done a lot of damage to him, and I didn’t want to do that. I hit him, and he didn’t go out, and I was like, ‘All right, he’s a tough cat.’”

“So let me not hit him with those same kinds of shots anymore. I carried him for three rounds, and I cooked him. You saw his face. It looked like chopped beef in there.”

White does not look interested in giving the 1-1 fighter another chance in the UFC. Jackson, on the other hand, wants a dialogue with the UFC executive, after referring to him as a “little school girl” in the same BloodyElbow interview.

“I reached out (to Dana White). Hopefully, he gives me a callback or text this week and we can discuss this, because he used his platform to sh-t on me, and it’s just not right.”