CM Punk was determined to notch his first professional mixed martial arts win when he was matched up against Mike Jackson at UFC 225. Instead, he lost via unanimous decision, and is now left with an 0-2 record.
If it were up to him, the 39-year-old ex-WWE star would be carrying on with his MMA career even after UFC 225. But according to his Jiu-Jitsu coach at the Roufusport Academy, Daniel Wanderley, Punk should instead focus on a less rigorous form of competition.
“I hope he continues training and maybe enters a jiu-jitsu competition, something he has always talked about,” Wanderley told MMA Fighting. “I hope he comes back with a good mindset and keeps training jiu-jitsu because that’s good for his life. I think that’s a perfect sport for him.”
“I think he should continue training kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, but training for a [MMA] fight is too hard. I wish he would go on to compete in jiu-jitsu because you face opponents at your age, your skill level, your belt rank, so you don’t fight someone more experienced than you. That’s my recommendation for him.”
Wanderley thinks the court case that Punk had to deal with during fight week did take a toll on their preparations for the fight. Nonetheless, he is proud of his fighter’s performance.
“Our plan was to go for takedowns early,” Wanderley said. “We knew [Jackson] didn’t have much of a ground game, so he could scramble and submit or work on his ground and pound on top. His jiu-jitsu is better when he’s on top. He tried a triangle when he was off his back, but he was already hurt and it was hard to finish.”
“Not that he did something wrong, but I think that the adrenaline of his [WWE] court case, that battle during fight week didn’t help. We were confident that he would win, but unfortunately we couldn’t.”
“We’re proud of him because he went there and fought hard. At one point we thought Mike would end the fight, but we saw his heart there.”
According to UFC president Dana White, he no longer expects Punk to be back in the UFC for a third fight.