As confirmed last week, former WWE star Phil “CM Punk” Brooks will make his return to the UFC on June 9 fighting on the card at UFC 225 in Chicago.
Punk’s next opponent was revealed to be Mike Jackson, who is also 0-1 in his UFC career. Both Punk and Jackson lost to Mickey Gall in the UFC.
TMZ Sports is featuring an interview with Jackson where he is asked about fighting Punk and what he thinks about the fight in general.
“I hear he’s a cool dude. I don’t have ill will against him. I’m not going in here to hurt him. You know, I’m just going in here to beat him up a little bit and show him this (is) not for him.”
Jackson was also asked if he thought the UFC picked him because they though maybe Punk would have a better chance of picking up his first professional MMA victory.
Jackson quickly disagreed with that assessment.
“No. I think I was picked just for who I am and the storyline and ability to sell a fight. I don’t think they have anything invested in him winning or losing to be honest with you. It was just a fight that made sense.”
Whether or not Punk’s return to the UFC will help the buyrate for the PPV remains to be seen this second time around. Punk’s last fight at UFC 203 in 2016 helped the show tick up to an average of 450,000 buys. It also remains to be seen if Punk’s fight will end up airing as part of the preliminary card and not the actual PPV event.