As the rumour mill continues to churn out speculation as to who CM Punk’s first opponent will be, the UFC have eliminated a massive amount of potential match-ups.
Lorenzo Fertitta, CEO of the UFC, also revealed that the former WWE superstar will not be given an easy pass in his mixed martial arts debut.
“I think it has to be somebody with some level of credentials,” Fertitta told ESPN.com. “It’s not just going to be some guy off the street. It’s going to be somebody who is a professional mixed martial artist — certainly somebody who MMA media will recognize and know.”
Fertitta, who has been with the Las Vegas promotion since 2001, also announced that the UFC will “most likely” have to delve outside its current roster when setting up the fight with CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks).
“But I’m going to defer to [matchmaker] Joe Silva,” Fertitta said. “We’ll let him bring two to three names to the table and we’ll figure it out from there. But I guarantee you it will be a competitive guy.”
Fertitta also claimed that he anticipated the anger of many purist MMA fans who feel begrudged by the fact that world class fighters such as Ben Askren are currently fighting outside of the UFC while a rookie like Brooks has been signed.
“We knew there was going to be backlash,” he said. “At the end of the day, we did our research and we talked to the people he’s trained with. We’re going to find out what he can bring to the table. We’re confident he has the skills to fight.
“We don’t know exactly what level yet. Sometimes, you’ve got to invest in what we call ‘fighter development.’ We’ve done it before and guys have developed into very competitive fighters, and we’ve done it where guys have not.”
