CM Punk already back in the gym training at Roufusport

Earlier this month at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio, former WWE champion CM Punk made his highly anticipated UFC debut against Mickey Gall. Punk’s debut came nearly two years after his signing with the promotion in 2014.

During that time, the Chicago native was training at Roufusport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin under the tutelage of Duke Roufus, alongside the likes of the Pettis brothers, and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

Unfortunately for Punk, when he stepped into the Octagon against Gall, he was immediately taken down, and ultimately submitted in the very first round. After the fight, Punk expressed his desire to have another fight in the Octagon. While UFC President Dana White was initially against the idea, he has since softened his stance on the matter.

Now, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has revealed that Punk is actually back in the gym training at Roufusport. He spoke on The MMA Hour on Monday:

he was in the gym the other day,” Woodley said. “I was there. I saw his car outside, and I came in, I was going to say what’s up to him. And then I guess he was in the shower when I was changing, so I missed him, but yeah he’s back in the gym training.”

“If you were fighting Punk you would assume that, him getting into this sport, his striking would be the last thing he caught up on,” he said. “So we expected the guy to [try to] out-strike him, so we were going to try and bum-rush him and…I’m not going to tell the whole game plan, we might have to use it again. But in general we tried to close the gap quickly and get hands on him, and the take down just surprised me and everybody else.

“We all knew there was a chance he could potentially lose, but I would have liked him to just show a little something, because he has worked so damn hard.”

So far no word yet on when Punk will return to the Octagon, however Woodley, who just won the UFC championship at UFC 201, will be returning to the Octagon on November 12th to defend his welterweight championship against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.