Corey Graves made some headlines on Saturday night after he sent out several Tweets directed at CM Punk following his loss at UFC 225. These Tweets indicated that Graves and Punk had a major falling out after Punk left WWE a few years ago.
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Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com did some great work and interviewed Graves to clarify some of the comments that he made. Below are some quotes:
On if Punk gave him an ultimatum to quit WWE or lose him as a friend:
“Well, to be honest, I’d never heard or been given that ultimatum. It kinda shocked me when I texted him about grabbing dinner because we were in Chicago and he told me he no longer had any interest in being friends with me or anybody related to WWE.”
Graves on him Tweeting “Nothing but respect” at Punk after his first UFC fight:
“I respected his drive, and him doing his own thing. He sent me the text shortly before his first fight. Part of me just thought he was in a zone and I didn’t take offense. I texted him the day of his FIRST fight something along the lines of “I know life is nuts, I still love you good luck” Probably not verbatim, but you get the idea.”
Graves on what ticked him off about Punk this week:
“What really set me off was this week when he essentially disowned the business that made him. My only issue with him was that he turned off people that actually loved and supported him. Beyond “the business” and he never wanted anything to do with us…yet continued to present himself as this “Punk” hero.”
Graves also clarified that this has nothing to do with Punk’s recent court case:
“Dude, this has ZERO to do with court, or testimony or any of the above. Nothing that I tweeted was corporate. I’m simply hurt/pissed off that a guy that I looked like as a big brother-type has turned his back on me and everyone that loved and supported him only because of the name on my paycheck. I’m definitely not the only one. I won’t name names, but there is a large group of us to this day that inexplicably lost a solid friend because of where we work.”
Speaking of Punk, here are some of the reactions from the wrestling world after his fight.