WWE Champion CM Punk recently spoke with Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com this week to discuss why he is not appearing at Saturday’s UFC on FOX event as previously announced, as well as Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Here are some highlights of what Punk spoke about, followed by video of the interview:

- Punk says he removed himself from appearing at the UFC event with Chael Sonnen in Chicago this weekend and didn’t want to overshadow the main event. This could be somewhat of a political answer, as previous reports have stated Vince McMahon is the person who made the call to prohibit Punk from appearing.

- Punk says he would like to follow in the footsteps of Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley and compete in the MMA world some day.

- He says he will not be in the 30-man Royal Rumble match, despite the stipulation that “all WWE Superstars” are eligible for this year’s Rumble.

- Punk put over Dolph Ziggler and says they plan to steal the show Sunday night.

- Punk talked about rumors of who his WrestleMania 28 opponent will be. He said Chris Jericho, Triple H and The Undertaker have all been discussed as possible opponents.

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