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Dana White Puts On Epic Poker Face For TMZ When Asked About CM Punk [Video]

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 02:39 PST, Dec 7, 2014

Dana White made it official on Saturday night: Former WWE megastar CM Punk would be joining the UFC.

CM Punk is set to make his debut in the Octagon sometime in 2015.

While that news inevitably led to quite a bit of reaction around the internet, some of us may recall that Dana White was asked about the possibility by TMZ.

The gossip site shared the video on their own site Thursday, and it was posted to the site’s official YouTube account on Friday.

While Dana White is very cordial about the topic of Brock Lesnar, who returned to the WWE after a much hyped and very controversial stint in the UFC, one can’t help but notice a slight mischievous twinkle in the eye when the topic of CM Punk comes up.

“I like [CM Punk] very much, he’s a great dude. You know, I don’t know if he can fight or anything like that…but sure, I wouldn’t mind talking to CM Punk!”

Some netizens who saw this video might want to give credit to TMZ Sports for putting this video out there and perhaps putting the idea of joining the UFC in CM Punk’s head.

However, while Dana White put on quite the poker face for TMZ (well played, good sir), he was a bit more forthcoming with ESPN.

“After [CM Punk’s] WWE contract was up, he called me and said he wanted to give it a shot. I said, ‘All right. We’ll give you a shot.'”

The acquisition of CM Punk or Phil Brooks as he’s known outside of sports entertainment has been inevitably compared to the Brock Lesnar deal. However, White acknowledges that there will be some key differences moving forward.

“It’s not like Brock Lesnar. We’re not going to throw the kitchen sink at him. Lesnar had a wrestling background. [CM Punk] is going to fight a guy who is 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 — something like that.”

It’s also acknowledged that despite Dana White’s openness to the signing and CM Punk’s own enthusiasm, time is not on his side.

At age 36, the former wrestler has waited a bit late for a serious career change, one that could leave him at a big disadvantage in the Octagon.

It’s a known fact that as fighters grow older, their movements are slower. Previous injuries also catch up with them.

It could be that CM Punk has no intention of a long-term career, but simply wanted to experience MMA fighting for himself as a long-time enthusiast.

His signing has brought about some enthusiastic responses.

As well as less than enthusiastic responses.

Jonathan Snowden over at the Bleacher Report wrote an open letter to Dana White, asking him to send the former wrestler back to the WWE:

“It just didn’t seem feasible. After all, this is a man with no history of athletic success, no track record in martial arts competition and a laundry list of injuries that made continuing his career as a wrestling showman untenable.”

“Giving fighting a shot is Punk’s choice. Putting him in the Octagon, where ostensibly the best cage fighters in the world compete, is White’s. And it’s nothing more than a sideshow, the kind of hucksterism the UFC was supposedly escaping when it ran towards respectability and away from its early reputation as human cockfighting.”

Do you think Snowden has a point about CM Punk? Should Dana White reconsider the signing?

[Image Credit: TMZ Sports YouTube Channel]

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