CM Punk hopes to use his first loss as a learning experience that’ll help lead him to victory.
This Saturday night (June 9), Punk will take on Mike Jackson in the first main card bout of UFC 225. The bout will take place in Punk’s hometown, Chicago. It’ll be his first bout since being submitted by Mickey Gall back in Sept. 2016.
Punk is going into his bout as the underdog once again. He lacks the experience that Jackson has, although many agree it is more evenly matched this time. Punk hopes to avoid the same mistakes he made in his UFC debut.
Speaking to MMA News’ own Tim Thompson, Punk said fans have put him at ease going into his sophomore effort:
“It’s funny, one day I walked home from my lawyers office and I was sick of Ubering. I had the time, it was a gorgeous day. So I literally just walked home and I had about five or six great fan interactions.”
Some fighters rise to the occasion following a loss, while others aren’t as fortunate. Punk believes his submission loss to Gall was a blessing in disguise:
“For sure, I think it puts good pressure on me. You can look at a million different sports quotes and one of them that sticks out is, ‘you gotta learn how to lose before you learn how to win.’ I lost, I think I did it in a classy way and I just got right back to the drawing board and right back to the gym. It feels like it’s been a lifetime of hard work. Ups and downs, highs and lows and we’re here. Twenty-four hours from now I’m gonna be weighed in and I’m gonna be eating, getting ready to have fun on Saturday.”
You can check out the rest of CM Punk’s Ultimate Media Day session below:
