This Month’s MMA Birthdays: ‘CM Punk’ Turns 40

Stardom brought Phil Brooks to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but it does appear as though he possesses the requisite skills to stay there.

“CM Punk” -- who will celebrate his 40th birthday on Oct. 26 -- made the transition from World Wrestling Entertainment to professional mixed martial arts in 2016, trading in a wildly successful and lucrative career for uncharted territory. Operating out of the Roufusport camp in Milwaukee, Brooks made his MMA debut at UFC 203 and lasted a little more than two minutes before Mickey Gall submitted him with a rear-naked choke. He headed back to the drawing board under the direction of four-time world kickboxing champion Duke Roufus and returned to the Octagon at UFC 225, where he squared off with Mike Jackson on June 9 in Chicago. There, Brooks lost a lopsided unanimous decision across three rounds, with all three cageside judges striking 30-26 scorecards against him. Where he goes from here remains anyone’s guess.

Others in MMA celebrating birthdays during the month of October:

OCT. 1

Helio Gracie, 1913-2009
Devin Cole, 42
Jerrod Sanders, 38
Ryan LaFlare, 35
Alexander Hernandez, 26

OCT. 2

David Heath, 42
Takayo Hashi, 41
Alexandre Pimentel, 40
Ed Herman, 38
Alex Reyes, 32

OCT. 3

Thiago Alves, 35
Leo Kuntz, 35
Dave Herman, 34
Seok Mo Kim, 32
Sirwan Kakai, 29

OCT. 4

Milton Vieira, 40
Joshua Burkman, 38
Liam McGeary, 36
Alexis Davis, 34
Ralek Gracie, 33
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger, 33
Andrew Bard, 31
Erik Koch, 30
Michinori Tanaka, 28

OCT. 5

Hiromitsu Kanehara, 48
Rich Franklin, 44
Matt Hamill, 42
Kyle Baker, 38
Robert Drysdale, 37

OCT. 6

Olly Bradstreet, 35
Brett Martinez, 32
Masio Fullen, 31
Jennifer Maia, 30
Yair Rodriguez, 26

OCT. 7

Akihiro Gono, 44
Kyacey Uscola, 37
Chris Mickle, 35
Yuta Sasaki, 29
Jordan Wright, 27

OCT. 8

Siala-Mou Siliga, 48
Ryo Chonan, 42
Roger Hollett, 40
Francisco Rivera, 37
Will Brooks, 32

OCT. 9

Gene LeBell, 86
Josh Diekmann, 42
Luis Palomino, 38
Jorge Santiago, 38
Blagoy Ivanov, 32

OCT. 10

Brad Mitchell, 44
Brandon Vera, 41
Douglas Evans, 38
Terry Martin, 38
Doo Won Seo, 37
Carla Esparza, 31
Jordan Mein, 29

OCT. 11

Francis Carmont, 37
Charles Byrd, 35
Nick Denis, 35
Desmond Green, 29
Sheymon Moraes, 28
Dave Burrow, 27

OCT. 12

Fred Ettish, 63
John McCarthy, 56
Wes Sims, 39
Jason High, 37
Bashir Ahmad, 36
Ronnie Mann, 32
Omari Akhmedov, 31
Kyoji Horiguchi, 28

OCT. 13

Matt Hughes, 45
Bryan Baker, 33
Talita Nogueira, 33
John Albert, 32
Saiful Merican, 30

OCT. 14

Kathina Catron, 33
Tony Sims, 33
Jim Alers, 32
Josh Grispi, 30
Jiri Prochazka, 26

OCT. 15

Darren Uyenoyama, 39
Art Arciniega, 37
Jacob Draves, 36
Vaughan Lee, 36
Karolina Kowalkiewicz, 33

OCT. 16

Kazuyuki Fujita, 48
Mike Hayes, 38
Rafael Rebello, 38
Frankie Edgar, 37
Maximo Blanco, 35

OCT. 17

Joey Villasenor, 43
Rex Richards, 38
Holly Holm, 37
Ben Rothwell, 37
Buddy Roberts, 36
Luke Rockhold, 34
Edimilson Souza, 34
Charles Oliveira, 29

OCT. 18

Stoney Hale, 39
Greg Nagy, 35
Alonzo Menifield, 31
Jorina Baars, 30
Ji Yeon Kim, 29

OCT. 19

Yukiko Seki, 48
Gilbert Smith, 37
Gokhan Saki, 35
Terry Etim, 33
Drew Dober, 30
Sabah Homasi, 30
Sean Powers, 29

OCT. 20

John Fraser, 41
Josh Copeland, 36
Hayder Hassan, 36
Paul Redmond, 32
Ashley Yoder, 31

OCT. 21

Gil Castillo, 53
Clint Godfrey, 36
Shawn Jordan, 34
Ed Ruth, 28
Lowen Tynanes, 28

OCT. 22

Ajlin Ahmic, 34
Kosuke Suzuki, 34
Rin Nakai, 32
Alex White, 30
Amanda Bobby Cooper, 27

OCT. 23

Jason Butcher, 34
Jeremy May, 32
Jake Collier, 30
Adam Piccolotti, 30
Andre Soukhamthath, 30

OCT. 24

Orlando Wiet, 53
David Mitchell, 39
James McSweeney, 38
Mark Bocek, 37
Jesse Forbes, 34
Kelvin Gastelum, 27
James Gallagher, 22

OCT. 25

Eric Davila, 42
Jeremiah O'Neal, 41
Keith Wisniewski, 37
Augusto Montano, 34
Danielle Taylor, 29

OCT. 26

Mark Schultz, 58
Phil Brooks, 40
Alejandro Villalobos, 40
Seth Baczynski, 37
Cindy Dandois, 34
Rafael dos Anjos, 34

OCT. 27

Semmy Schilt, 45
Sherron Leggett, 40
Misaki Takimoto, 38
Tessa Simpson, 32
Julio Arce, 29

OCT. 28

Jigoro Kano, 1860-1938
Bobby Hoffman, 52
Alex Chambers, 40
Glover Teixeira, 39
L.C. Davis, 38
Will Noland, 38

OCT. 29

Will Kerr, 36
Jason Langellier, 35
Antonio Braga Neto, 31
Matthew Lozano, 30
Shinju Nozawa-Auclair, 25

OCT. 30

Hong Man Choi, 38
Katsunori Kikuno, 37
Ed West, 35
Jason Jackson, 28
Veronica Macedo, 23

OCT. 31

Keith Jardine, 43
Joe Warren, 42
Daniel Kelly, 41
Waylon Lowe, 38
Yoshiro Maeda, 37
Myles Jury, 30