C.M. Punk reflects on legal battle and favorable jury decision this week, says he likely won’t countersue, discusses training for fight during trial

C.M. Punk spoke this week about winning his trial against WWE Dr. Amann. A jury decided in his and Colt Cabana’s favor on Tuesday this week. Right after the verdict, in the hallway outside the courtroom, Punk spoke to WrestleZone reporter Nick Hausman.

Punk said he was relieved and ready to move on. The trial coincided with the final two weeks of training before his second UFC fight, scheduled this Saturday night. Punk commented on that.

“Aside from the fact that I’m in the middle of a weight cut and have other business to take care of, a gigantic weight is off my shoulder. … Just another hurdle. I still train twice day. I had to take everything in a different order and train with who and where I could, and I got it done. My weight is good  right now. I’m looking forward to Saturday.”

Punk felt bad that his longtime friend Cabana had to go through the stress of the legal battle. “First and foremost I’m happy my friend Colt Cabana who was dragged into this for silly reasons,” he said. “In general, I’m super appreciative the jury came to the verdict. I think I had the truth on my side – obviously I did; truth prevailed. I appreciated everybody who was in my corner who knew and continues to know the truth. I can’t wait to get it all behind me. I wanted it out years ago. I want to move on in my life.”

In an on-camera interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting recorded yesterday, Punk spoke about the trial and his future plans.

“I don’t know if I have the words, I don’t know if it would properly convey [how I feel],” he said when asked if he feels vindicated and having this lawsuit behind him now. “I do know was probably the first time, or one of three times, where I actually lost control of my emotions. I always try to stay pretty even keel and locked in the moment, but when you’re waiting for the judge to utter words that literally decide the course of the rest of your life. I didn’t comptelate what if you lose, because losing wasn’t an option for any reason other than I told the truth, but the legal system can be confusing and having to sat there for days and days and days and listened to the way they try to bend things to certain laws – they’re all just confusing, I’m out of my element and sitting there scared out of my mind. I’m there with my life sitting there looking at everybody and suddenly it’s happening. It’s funny, we were eating lunch and I didn’t know if it was going to get figured out that day or they’re going to order dinner and stay late or go home and come back the next day; I didn’t have any guarantees. We’re down the street having lunch. I’m not eating, everybody else is eating. I got up to get coffee and I got a text from April that said the verdict is in. Oh, okay. The only thing I can compare it to is sitting in a locker room and somebody comes to get me and says it’s time to walk. My entire team of lawyers are just badass women.” He said he told them this is what it feels to walk in the cage to fight another human being.

He was wondering at that point if he had done everything and the people did everything in their power to prepare him for what was about to happen. He said they read Scott’s verdict first (Colt Cabana) and his main goal was for him to be okay. He said he goes through life trying to shield people he loves. He wanted them to leave him alone. He said when they read the verdict, he lost it. He said April hugged him. “I knew it was good news, because what happens next,” he said. “I’m sick of being scared about it, I’m sick of being worried about it, I’m sick of crying about it. It was just, there was nothing I could do to stop it. To hear her cry and was sobbing about it, telling me she’s happy for me, and I’m happy with us, I feel like I can finally get on and move on and continue with the rest of my life, something I’ve been trying to do since 2013.”

Punk said he spent a lot of time defending himself and he’d have to file his own lawsuit to get it back, but he said it’s not his style and he’s not sure. He said this experience has taught him a lot. “I’m on the fence,” he said. “Money is just paper, but that was my life’s work and I do think it was internally done just to bleed me of money. That’s neither here nor there, it’s over. There’s a big part of me that says it’s over, just leave me alone, I don’t want to have anything to do with you. That’s how negative this situation is. I just want to be over here and be happy, so I’ll probably just stay over here.”

He said the trial was supposed to start sooner, but the other side filed motions to get it delayed. When asked if they tried to move it to the week of his fight, Punk wasn’t sure. “If you know them and you’ve worked there, it makes a lot of sense, but I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said.

He said he felt shielded by having lived through this experience and told his story and then somebody decided to sue him for defamation over a real life events, a dangerous situation health-wise, so there was part of him that said he just had to get on the stand and tell the truth. He said they’re human beings, but it’s intimidating to be on the stand. Punk said Colt was “a fish out of water” and had never been in trouble in his life, but he felt they were shielded by the truth. “How could you dispute these facts,” he said.

Punk joked that he’d be north of 200 pounds if he wasn’t preparing for the fight. He said this has helped him be hyper-focused, actually, because a lot of this was in his lawyer’s hands. He said he saw his attorney’s texting him at 3 a.m. still in the office. He said he saw them every day at 8 a.m. and walk out at 5:30 and then work for another three hours and then go home and train. “I was really good at compartmentalizing everything,” he said. He said it helped with food and water intake being nervous. He said he’s ready to fight. He said was so exhausted, but he was in a place where he could just focus. “Fighting is about being comfortable in uncomfortable situations,” he said. He said he just wants to play with his dog, but he’s been in his basement working out. He said he’s glad his fight is in Chicago on Saturday night.

Punk’s fight against “The Truth” Mike Jackson, who is also 0-1-0, takes place Saturday night on UFC 225. His fight is on the main PPV fight card.

Watch then entire 22 minute interview here: CM Punk talks winning WWE lawsuit, UFC 225, possible return to wrestling and more

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE: Colt Cabana talks candidly about the trial the last two weeks where he and Punk were found innocent, gloats and vents about the experience and outcome