CM Punk calls himself the best in the world, but during his latest promo on Monday Night Raw, the two-time UFC fighter paid tribute to a friend and teammate who earned the same moniker recently.
Following his match at WWE SummerSlam in Cleveland this past weekend, Punk (real name Phil Brooks) showed up at Raw in Baltimore to address his growing rivalry with Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins. Before he got going, Punk shouted out his friend and teammate Belal Muhammad for winning the UFC welterweight title with a dominant victory over Leon Edwards at UFC 304.
“I just want to take a real quick minute to shout out, give some flowers to my good friend, my teammate, my brother Belal Muhammad,” Punk said in the ring. “He won the UFC welterweight title. It’s been a busy week, I didn’t forget. Congratulations. I love seeing good things happen to good people. I love watching hard work pay off.”
During his brief MMA career, Punk trained primarily under head coach Duke Roufus at his gym in Milwaukee. That’s also where Muhammad frequently worked while he was making his way up the rankings in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Obviously that friendship stuck long after Punk left fighting and went back to professional wrestling. Watch his shoutout to Muhammad for the upset win above.
