CM Punk has penned a new blog titled “The Most Important Thing” over at The Player Tribune, and below is an excerpt. Be sure to join us tomorrow night for complete, LIVE coverage of CM Punk vs Mickey Gall at UFC 203:
People want to know if I ever miss my old life as wrestling personality CM Punk. They wonder if I ever think about the crowds chanting my name or the rush of jumping off the top rope during the main event. It’s a fair question with a simple answer.
The truth is I don’t miss being CM Punk as much as I used to miss being me.
For a long time, the demands of my schedule as a professional wrestler forced me to prioritize my job over everything else in my life. My family, my health and my own ambitions had to be placed on the backburner. I gave everything I had to the job. But my time as a professional wrestler didn’t just end — it reached a conclusion. I achieved everything I wanted to in that arena, even beyond what I ever dreamed was possible. I had thought about trying something else for a long time before I actually made the move to MMA. And now that I’ve done it, I know I’ll never look back.
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My reasons for pursuing MMA were simple.
First off, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
More important, it makes me happy.
For a long time, I didn’t really consider those things. Instead, I focused strictly on what I knew I was good at, which was being a professional wrestler. But in order to pursue what I was meant to do, I knew it would mean starting from a blank canvas. I have a background in jiujitsu, but besides that, I had to learn everything else from scratch — which excited me. So ultimately, I decided to put aside what I was good at in order to pursue what I wanted to be great at.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
