Mike Jackson Says He May Be The Guy Fighting CM Punk at UFC 225

Mike Jackson spoke with MMAjunkie about possibly being CM Punk’s opponent at UFC 225. Highlights are below:

On asking whether he’d be facing Punk: “Without giving too much away, (Maynard) gives me the wink-wink and says, ‘Be patient. We’ll see what happens.'”

On potentially fighting Punk in Chicago: “There’s no need to negotiate, because I really just want to hit this dude so bad for calling me a can. I was so offended by that. So now I have to go put him in his own safe space.”

On whether he expects Punk to be improved from his last fight: “What I don’t think a lot of people factor in is that (Punk has) never been some phenomenal athlete. He’s never been a (Dwayne) ‘Rock’ (Johnson) type character. He’s just one of these guys that’s just a tough guy. Then you factor in the mileage that the pro wrestling career put on his body. He’s closing in on 40 years old. And another thing that people don’t grasp is that striking is far harder to learn and master than jiu-jitsu. These are facts. Now, obviously, you have anomalies like B.J. Penn, who can just look at something and immediately soak it up. (Punk’s) not that guy. So I don’t see him progressing and evolving as a fighter in two years.”

On Punk’s training: “MMA training is going to be different than professional wrestling training. Not to say they don’t correlate with one another, but it’s different. I just don’t see him picking up the skills needed to defeat me come June 9 at UFC 225.”