CM Punk was in attendance at UFC 189, and he spoke about to the media about his progress on his road to his MMA debut. While he started out his combat sports training as a student of jiu jitsu, the former WWE star says that his stand up skills have been progressing a lot in camp.
"Believe it or not, and I don't ask, but everybody asks Duke (Roufus) 'how is he doing?', and Duke tells everybody that he thinks that my best area right now, is striking, believe it or not. It's mind boggling to me. Striking was the one thing that I never did."
"I've hit mitts before. I've done boxing before. But all the nuances you need to know, and everything you need to do with your feet and your head, the correct movement. That's been the most challenging thing, aside from wrestling, but Duke says I'm doing okay, and Duke won't lie to me."
Related: Dana White impressed with CM Punk's progress: 'he looks phenomenal'
As for when he will be making his UFC debut, it's still up in the air.
"Dana's quote was 'tell me when you're ready', and I defer to my coaches and I say 'tell me when I'm ready, guys.' This is very much about me, this whole journey, but I have a whole team behind my back. I'm not here to let them down. I'm not here to embarrass them," he said. "I want to be able to get in there and get my hand raised and say 'if you want to train, lose weight, be a mixed martial artist, come to Roufusport!' I want to be able to say that after I win."
"There's a lot more than just me finding out something about myself, through all this. I want to be able to hug my coaches and thank them for giving me the knowledge afterwards."
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