By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Former WWE star/new UFC fighter C.M. Punk told Rolling Stone magazine that he has freed his mind of a "pro wrestler" mentality and he no longer desires that elusive WrestleMania main event.

"If I step in the Octagon and I get knocked out, I don't gotta keep fighting. If that was pro wrestling, and I slipped and I fell and something happened to me and I got knocked out and I woke up three seconds later, guess what: I gotta finish this match. That's just the pro wrestler's mentality, and I'm glad I don't really have to be subjected to that anymore," Punk told reporter Kenny Herzog.

"Imagine if an MMA fighter fought four-to-five nights a week. That's essentially what I was doing in pro wrestling. Obviously, there's big differences between a real fight and a fake one, but it's a lot more wear and tear on your body, the travel is brutal. So I won't be doing that."

Punk said the deal with UFC was signed after top management members Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta flew to Chicago to talk business with him, which he contrasted to how he felt WWE handled his final days in the company.

"If I can maybe throw out an example of how things are different - the lack of communication from the WWE office was astounding. They said they suspended me and never contacted me. They were in my town, about an eight-minute drive from my house multiple times, and didn't feel like it was necessary to come try and talk to me, so I assumed that they didn't want to talk to me," Punk said.

"Then, you've got Dana and Lorenzo Fertitta wanting to talk to me, and they get on a jet and fly to Chicago to talk to me. So that pretty much told me exactly how Dana and Lorenzo do business. I'm sure there are other people out there who have different situations with them, but they're playing straight with me. And being backstage [at UFC 181 in Las Vegas] and introducing everybody to my wife, it was such a great experience. And I'm sure part of that is the name value and who I am, but everyone seemed to be happy, which is different and odd for me."

Punk said he's clear to fight for UFC in early 2015 because there is not a no-compete clause following his WWE settlement. "Otherwise I'd be waiting till the summer (to have my first fight)," Punk said.

Besides learning who his first opponent is, the next big step for Punk is deciding where to train.

"That's one of the things I've been most overwhelmed about, is the amount of people who've approached me privately or publicly and said, 'Hey, train here.' I don't know, 'cause the best gyms I have to travel to, and I'm not gonna travel back and forth. I need a home base. I'm gonna have to be somewhere where the gym's close so I can train twice a day. I'm sort of in a hurry to make that decision, but I'm also afforded a little bit of time, so we're gonna have to see what happens," Punk said.

Another important factor in the decision-making process was consulting with his wife, A.J. Lee, on the career move.

"Trust me, whatever nerves I'm gonna have stepping into the Octagon will pale in comparison to the nerves I had when I had to bring this up to my wife. I was honestly terrified," Punk said. "(But), she's been around me long enough to know that, ever since the first day I met her, this is something I talked about doing, and she's not somebody that's gonna step in front of her husband trying to accomplish something that he dreamed about."

[ LINK: The full interview discussing the ins-and-outs of the career move can be read HERE at RollingStone.com ]

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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