CM Punk officially signed a contract to join UFC, and will make his debut in the octagon in 2015.
The announcement came during UFC 181 on pay-per-view late Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk, birth name Phil Brooks, has never fought professional mixed martial arts.
"This is my new career, 100 percent," CM Punk said in a statement. "I'm going to go full steam ahead, all systems go after today, and it's going to be fun."
UFC president Dana White told ESPN that CM Punk intends to fight at middleweight (185 pounds), but said he'd be open to 170 pounds.
The UFC took to Twitter to announce that CM Punk is expected to make his Octagon debut in 2015, according to ESPN.com.
"He wanted to fight here," White told ESPN.com. "He wanted to give it a shot, so we gave him an opportunity. It's not like Brock Lesnar. We're not going to throw the kitchen sink at him. Lesnar had a wrestling background. [CM Punk] is going to fight a guy who is 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 -- something like that."
he UFC head noted that Brooks had been training jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts for an extended period of time.
"He's been coming to fights for a long time and after his WWE contract was up, he called me and said he wanted to give it a shot. I said, 'All right. We'll give you a shot.' "At 36, CM Punk acknowledges that time is not on his side.
"My professional wrestling days are over, it's awesome to be here," he said. "This is something I've wanted to do for a long time.
"I felt like it was now or never. I have a limited window most fighters don't have. I'm either here to win or get my ass kicked."
Brooks left the WWE rather abruptly almost a year ago. His fans thought that he would eventually come back, but in a recent interview on Colt Cabana's "Art of Wrestling" podcast where he said that he doesn't plan on ever returning.
CM Punk isn't the only WWE wrestler to make the transition. Brock Lesnar would actually go onto become the heavyweight champ in UFC. Dave Bautista (1-0) and Bobby Lashley (12-2) would compete for other companies, but successully.
