Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com interviewed CM Punk backstage a few hours after the announcement of his UFC deal, a 20 minute interview which covers several interesting topics.

Punk said it’s been pretty surreal and feels nice to be part of the UFC. He mentioned that fighters have been nice to him, something that they didn’t have to, but shows a lot about the sport and the company.

The big question of if he can fight or not will be answered when he steps in the cage and he said you have to start somewhere. He said that if Dana White told him that he needs to go and get some fights under his belt before getting the UFC deal he would have done it as this was not just about the UFC and money but about fulfilling another dream.

Punk said that he knew 100% after he walked out of WWE that this would be coming and MMA gave him something to look forward to, sort of a new life. He said he feels better than he looks and physically on a scale of 1 to 10 he’s at 11 with old injuries gone.

He mentioned that Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta flew to Chicago at the end of October to say hello and have dinner and discuss a deal.

When asked what does he think his old boss thinks about him in the UFC, Punk said he doesn’t care and he’s sure they know but they will pretend that they don’t know because “UFC is not competition,” winking while saying that to the camera.

You can see the full interview below.