CM Punk – “MMA as we currently know it wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for professional wrestling”
WWE superstar and former UFC competitor CM Punk, real name Phil Brooks, knows a little bit about both professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.
Understanding that the money just wasn’t in MMA in the early days, Brooks believes that wrestlers might have tried their hand and mixed martial arts earlier in their careers if things were different.
“MMA as we currently know it wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for professional wrestling,” Brooks said on an ESPN UFC 300 preview show. “Conversely, a fun flip side of the coin is I know so many people that if MMA was a viable option like it is today, to make a living, get paid, never would have gotten into professional wrestling.
“A guy like Ken Shamrock was a pro wrestler, maybe before he was a fighter, right?” he continued. “Ken went where the money was at the time. Look at him now. A guy like Kurt Angle, I look at. Kurt never would have been a professional wrestler. Kurt would have been scouted and almost drafted into MMA. A super gym would have found him.”
