Not only did most UFC fans grow up watching wrestling, but most UFC fighters did the same. As a result, they realize that competition is all well and good, but hype is a key ingredient when it comes to building interest in a fight and, ultimately, making a lot of money. As soon as Punk was announced as having signed a contract with UFC, many fighters came out of the woodwork to offer a challenge for his first match. The fact that Punk's competition is not expected to be a top-level fighter only opened the floodgates wider, with Ben Askren (a successful MMA star who has never competed in UFC) calling Punk "fake" and Jason David Frank (formerly the Green Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) publicly volunteering for the fight. No decision has been made, although with speculation that Punk will fight next summer, UFC still has a few months to sign the bout. Whoever ends up standing in the octagon with Punk, though, will have more eyes on him than his lack of name value would typically garner, and the result will be a nice payday.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
