CM Punk Melts Down In New Interview

Is Punk being Punk, or is the pressure getting to him?

By Jay Anderson /

In a new interview with Complex, former WWE champ/current UFC star CM Punk appears to have gone off the rails, melting down when asked some questions the ex-pro wrestler found in poor taste. The most shocking thing? By most standards, the questions in question (pun intended) were relatively tame. While the interview started out innocently enough, within less than thirty minutes, it was total Punk meltdown. Focusing on his transition to MMA, things were initially fine: the Duke Roufus pupil talked about training at the UFC's new performance center, and about writing comics, noting that he'd love to tackle The Punisher, who he feels (and he's not wrong, especially when it comes to big screen adaptations) hasn't been done right more times than not. He goes on to talk about training with Roufus, how well-rounded and knowledgeable he is about striking, and addresses accusations of hazing from the Roufus gym. And then the wheels come off. When asked about what he's working on most in training, he becomes curt.
It€™s a boring answer, because it€™s kind of a boring question. This is mixed martial arts. I€™m not in there one day, working on one specific thing, I€™m in there everyday, working on everything.
Only, it's not a boring question. It's a standard question, yes, but fans want to know where Punk thinks he needs work. It's a question nearly every MMA fighter gets asked about a hundred times during their career, at all levels of the sport. What have you been working on lately? It's like asking a writer what they've been hammering out at the keyboard. Fiction? Non? A short story? An epic fantasy series? From there, the next question is about whether he's nervous making the jump from pulled punches to real ones, and again, while pretty basic given the circumstances, it's enough to set Punk off:
I get this question a lot, and it€™s like you guys think I€™m an idiot. Like I didn€™t know MMA wasn€™t pre-determined or something like that. Have you ever tweeted at me, €˜Hey, do you know what you€™re getting into?
When assured that this isn't the case - and does Punk really think journalists have nothing better to do then taunt him on Twitter, or is he being intentionally difficult? - Punk continues with:
Okay. It sounds like you might have.
And when told there's no need to be on the defensive (which is a surefire way to get someone on the defensive, frankly):
I€™m not on the defensive. Your question is insulting. You€™re asking me if I know the difference between the WWE and the UFC?
No, the question was about nerves, and how one will compose themselves under fire. Verbal fire, Punk seems to have an issue with. These questions while bland weren't anything worse than any other interviewer has asked, and if Punk thinks they shouldn't be asked, maybe he needs to get a rider of some sort, the rock star type with "don't talk about X/Y/Z" spelled out. After all, he already has a handler - who whisked him away from the interview not long after this exchange - though not before Punk went back to mentioning Twitter in conjunction with a question about his fight being a publicity stunt, which likely means he needs to spend less time on it.
That€™s exactly what you€™re asking. You say my fans say that? You€™re mistaken. My fans do not say that. I wouldn€™t say anything to them . I don€™t justify stupidity with an answer. I don€™t give a s*** what anybody thinks of me, whether I€™m going to fight or not. I know what I€™m going to do. If I did anything in my life based on someone€™s negative opinion on me, I would never f****** leave my house. My fans are people who don€™t tweet negative s**t at me.
It seems as if Punk may need to accept some difficult truths, or simply stop doing interviews that aren't pre-scripted/approved. One, there is a pocket of people who will never see his jump to MMA as more than a publicity stunt, whether right or wrong. Two, the press is a reflection of the world at large, more or less. They're asking what (they think) the fans want to know. Three, if you don't want this cycle to continue, don't blow up at the dumb questions - give a simple, concise answer and move on. And maybe stop caring about what people write on Twitter.