He's not even in the Octagon yet, but CM Punk isn't pulling any punches.
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion can't escape his background as he prepares for his first UFC fight. Punk can't say he was a wrestler, because he very much still is a wrestler in the eyes of many fans, pundits and doubters.
Until Punk succeeds elsewhere, he'll always be known as a professional wrestler. The "Best in the World" has a chance to start to escape from under the shadow of professional wrestling when he enters the Octagon for a legitimate fight against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 on Sept. 10.
Ironically enough, the fight with Gall -- which was delayed many times due to injuries and setbacks for Punk -- will take place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the same place Punk bolted out of the WWE after an argument with Vince McMahon and never looked back.
Punk has gone on-record saying he will "never ever" come back to the WWE and he recently spoke out about professional wrestling in general and how scripted it is -- especially when it comes to promos.
"I think the good ones, the interviews and the promos people remember, those are improv," Punk told UFC Unfiltered via WrestlingInc. "Now, [professional] wrestling's just over-scripted to death. It's almost like they have a chokehold on it. Some guys need to operate that way and I feel like some people need to let loose and be themselves.
"You've got a whole room of guys writing for you. They don't know you. They don't know where you're coming from. They don't know your perspective or your character and stuff like that. And if you're out there being disingenuous and saying words that three other people wrote, I always felt that the crowd could tell and then they're going to pay attention to their phones or s--t on whatever segment you're in. So yeah, I was always a fan of just kind of doing my own thing."
Punk did his own thing and made waves when he dropped his infamous pipe bombs on the WWE, where he'd go off-script and speak his mind -- which included bashing Vince McMahon's "doofus son-in-law" Triple H.
With Punk set to make his UFC debut, it's unlikely he'll ever return to the "over-scripted to death" world of wrestling.
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