Dana White says CM Punk sells Pay Per Views
UFC President Dana White was recently asked about the decision to shift MMA veteran Alistar Overeem, who’s currently No. 2 in the company’s heavyweight rankings, from the UFC 225 main card in Chicago to the prelims that will air live on FS1.
This question was mainly posed due to former WWE star Phil “CM Punk” Brooks opening the PPV card in two weeks against Mike Jackson. Both Punk and Jackson are 0-1 professionally in the UFC, with Jackson 0-2 overall in his MMA career.
White cited Pay Per View buys as a main factor for the switch, per MMAFighting.com.
“Listen, when Alistair Overeem sells as many pay-per-views as CM Punk does, we can argue.”
When asked if Punk’s future with the UFC will likely be over if he suffers a second loss on June 9, the UFC President indicated that would likely be the case.
Joe Rogan remains critical of Punk on PPV card
During a recent “Fight Companion” edition of the Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan, Brendan Schaub and Eddie Bravo had a discussion about Punk opening UFC 225 while other established names were part of the prelims.
Schaub, a former UFC fighter, said he would have been furious if he was still actively fighting for the company if he saw someone 0-1 like Punk opening a PPV.
Rogan, who was critical of the decision to have Punk open the PPV just a few weeks ago in a conversation with Robin Black, remained critical of the move by the UFC.
“That is so crazy to me. It bothers me. I don’t like it. I don’t mind him fighting. I think it’s great he is fighting. I think it is great he is testing himself. Even if they wanted to do it in the UFC, have him on the prelims. Put him on FS1. Make it a Fight Pass thing. How many people are going to buy that Pay Per View to watch him fight?”