WWE News: C.M. Punk on whether he's better than The Rock, whether he's happy with his spot in WWE, and discusses his health following knee surgery

WWE Champion C.M. Punk spoke with Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com inside his home. The following are highlights of the interview.

Punk on whether he's better now than The Rock was as a full-time wrestler: "It's apples and oranges in my opinion. I think I take this more seriously than he does or ever has. That's not an insult. I'm like a purist. I know different styles. I've wrestled around the world. He's been a WWE guy. Within that mold, within being a WWE guy, I think he's one of the greatest of all time, absolutely. You take him out of his comfort zone... I'm not saying he knows less than I do. I'm trying to vocalize the right way. I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't think I was better than him."

Punk on whether he's happy in his spot in WWE and his fans being worried for him: "Yeah, absolutely. If I wasn't happy I would change whatever made me unhappy. I just think I have a different level of passionate fans than some people. I've had fans that have followed me since I wrestled in armories in 2000, so they really have an emotional attachment and they are going to be very vocal about stuff. The benefit of being in pro wrestling is that I get to mess with people. I get to blur the lines. When I tweet something like, 'I'm not on the poster for WrestleMania.' There's millions of people who are going to flip their shit... It just so happens that it fits with what I'm doing on television."

Punk also said he was stupid for returning after knee surgery so quickly: It looks like I have a second kneecap on my knee, scar tissue and stuff like that... I don't think I was 100 percent before surgery, but my knee is definitely better than it was before surgery. I tore my knee up in September in September against John Cena in Boston Garden. It's better now than it was, but that's a relative term, I don't know what 100 percent means."

Powell's POV: Punk also spoke about MMA fighter Jon Jones referring to him as MC Punk, and his passion for MMA. Punk noted that he's not sure whether he will attend Saturday's UFC on FOX event in Chicago and might need to charter a flight to Phoenix for the Royal Rumble if he does. Helwani also told Punk to win on Sunday and "beat The Streak" at WrestleMania. Thanks to Dot Net Members Patrick and Thegame15 for passing along the video.