In an interview with Sports Illustrated, former WWE superstar turned UFC fighter Phil “CM Punk” Brooks commented on the transition, whether he had control over the booking of his character, Brock Lesnar, why other wrestling stars have not switched to MMA, on the pro wrestling is fake comments and more.

Highlights of the interview are below:

On whether it felt like he was competing in the WWE: “It’s definitely a competition, backstage is so shark-infested and political, it’s almost comical. A lot of people are more interested in the backstage goings-on than what they see on television, a lot of ways, it’s more fascinating, it’s a competition for sure.”

On whether he had control over the booking of his WWE character: “Yeah, eventually, but I was one of the few and even in that, I could make a recommendation, but at the end of the day, it’s Vince’s company and his say.”

On the professional wrestling is fake comments: “In pro wrestling, it’s fake, people always get offended by that word. No, we like to say it’s pre-determined. For whatever reason, people get angry at fake, yet pre-determined eases the blow, it’s fake, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really mean anything, so after a while it was let’s just really fight and see what happens. Now I get to.”

On Brock Lesnar: “I love him, I think he’s awesome, this is what we have in common, I’ll tell you how I am. Now, don’t be surprised when I’m like that, no apologies, no bulls***.”

On wrestlers making the transition to MMA: “I’ve always been surrounded by guys who talked about it, half of them talk about it, none of them do it, they have their little comfortable safety net doing WWE stuff, I guess. I would much rather give it a shot than just talk about it.”

The interview is available in full at this link.