Dana White Says UFC Fighter CM Punk "Looks Phenomenal"

By Jay Anderson / July 2, 2015

According to UFC President Dana White, the promotion could not be happier with their investment in Phil "CM Punk" Brooks, the former WWE champion currently working to make the switch to mixed martial artist. Punk, who was signed by the UFC in December, has been training under the highly respected Duke Rufous at Rufousport in Milwaukee, and recently moved to the city full time to be closer to his training camp. Speaking to TMZ, White had a lot of say on the subject of Punk (or is it Brooks? Thanks to Reebok, that's a bit unclear at the moment).

First of all, let me start by saying this: the respect that this guy has earned from his team, his coaches...he's a dog, man. He actually just moved to Milwaukee so he can be closer to training. He's committed to this thing, the guy's an absolute stud and a joy to work with. He's looking phenomenal.

He also added that as far as a timeline for a debut fight is concerned, the ball is in Punk's court.

His deal is, he can call me and when he's ready to fight, he calls me and it's on man. I'm thinking early next year.

It's clear that the UFC is comfortable letting Punk develop slowly, which may be best for them financially, as it increases the likelihood that Punk actually wins a few fights. Meanwhile, the promotion is still reeling from the disastrous unveiling of its Reebok uniforms/apparel. The exclusive deal, which bans fighters from wearing other sponsors at any UFC event, has been heavily criticized from the start, and the launch couldn't have gone worse, with multiple misspellings, including lightweight Gilbert Melendez's name being spelled Giblert, and CM Punk's gear being labeled with his full given name, "Philip" Brooks - which is not only misspelled, as it should be "Phillip," but ignores the fact that the fighter/comic book scribe/former wrestler tends to go by Phil.