Chuck Liddell On CM Punk's Brief UFC Run: "I Think His Trainers Did Him A Disservice"

Some MMA fans love pro wrestling while others hate it for the scripted nature of it. UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell was asked his thoughts on the MMA community's opinion on wrestling when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.

"Some like it and some don't. It's not real fights but the stuff they do is real. It's crazy athletic and hard to do, but it's not fighting. But it's fun with all of the storylines," stated Liddell.

"If you're talking about guys who can cross over, if you can fight then we accept you. I think you run into problems when you get guys that come over? CM Punk got a lot of flak. But they put him against guys where they tried to get him a win. They put in another guy who should have never been in the UFC in there with him and he still got beat."

Liddell believes that Punk had the wrong people in his ear which convinced him that he could be successful in the octagon.

"I think his trainers did him a disservice. They said, 'Aw man, you could be a fighter' and then they threw him to the wolves. If they built him up with some small shows and worked his way up, then maybe he would have been okay. But you can't be a guy who's not ready and throw him in. UFC is the cream of the crop. It is the top show out there," said Liddell.

Many think Punk shouldn't have started off in UFC and should have had to work his way up like nearly every other MMA fighter. Liddell was asked if it was a disservice to UFC by allowing Punk to fight.

"I'm not saying that, but he wasn't trained enough. He hadn't done enough and wasn't good enough to fight at that level," said Liddell. "Obviously, for promotion it was great. Brock Lesnar is one of the few guys who made that transition pretty easy. But he was a great wrestler to start with and he's a big man."

Lesnar' WWE contract reportedly expires either this month or next and Liddell was asked if we could see yet another return to UFC for Lesnar.

"I would leave that up to the fighter as it's up to him what he wants to do. But I don't see it happening anytime soon. But if he wants to, I'm sure people will pay to see it," Liddell said before being asked about his relationship with Lesnar.

"He's a nice guy and is good to fans. The small interactions I've had with him, he's a great guy."

Liddell is part of the Cagefighter movie which also features Jon Moxley and Christian. Liddell discussed how he got involved in the film.

"They sent me the script and I really liked it. I thought it was pretty good for the movies I get. But when I looked at it, I said, 'Aw, I'm gonna have to call them back' because they're shooting a week after I have surgery on my knee. I thought I wasn't gonna be able to do any of the fight scenes," revealed Liddell.

"But I wanted to talk to whoever wrote it because I wanted to help them with a few spots so things would run a little smoother. They were technical things that would bother a fighter as some of the technicalities were wrong, so I wanted to fix that. Then I found out they planned on having me be the coach, so I didn't have to fight. So, we started talking about me doing the movie."

Moxley is one of the stars of the film and Liddell was asked about working with him.

"Jon Moxley was great. He's very professional and great at what he did. He was an awesome guy to work with," said Liddell.

Chuck Liddell stars in Cagefighter which made it's international debut last Sunday via FITE.tv. Chuck's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.