Fertitta on CM Punk’s Debut Opponent: ‘Sometimes you’ve got to invest in fighter development’

“I think it has to be somebody with some level of credentials. It’s not just going to be some guy off the street. It’s going to be somebody who is a professional mixed martial artist – certainly somebody who MMA media will recognize and know.”

“But I’m going to defer to Joe Silva. We’ll let him bring two to three names to the table and we’ll figure it out from there. But I guarantee you it will be a competitive guy.”

“We knew there was going to be backlash. At the end of the day, we did our research and we talked to the people he’s trained with. We’re going to find out what he can bring to the table. We’re confident he has the skills to fight. We don’t know exactly what level yet. Sometimes, you’ve got to invest in what we call ‘fighter development.’ We’ve done it before and guys have developed into very competitive fighters, and we’ve done it where guys have not.”

During a recent chat with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta discussed the UFC’s stance on CM Punk and who he should make his MMA debut against.