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In asking around about CM Punk's appearance walking Chael Sonnen to the ring at the next UFC on FOX from Chicago, I was told it wasn't a deal made between UFC and WWE.
Based on what we have heard, it was more of something Sonnen and Punk put together on their own. So, this is not some sort of promotional agreement between the companies as part of a working agreement, nor is this some plan to set up Brock Lesnar's return to WWE, as some readers have theorized. The Lesnar retirement has nothing to do with the Punk appearance at all we are told.
Now, the appearance does come the night before The Royal Rumble PPV, so it should be interesting to see if WWE gets a plug out of it, but I am told the appearance wasn't something put together by the respective management of the two companies to promote WWE or the PPV.
In fact, no one I spoke to at WWE was even aware of the appearance until after word leaked out through MMA websites and at least one source stated it was a deal Punk agreed to independently of the company.
All that said, WWE and UFC have worked together in the past. When Ken Shamrock first came to the then-WWF in 1997, WWF licensed footage of him fighting in UFC to explain to their audience who he was. When Brock Lesnar made his debut for UFC, UFC licensed footage of Lesnar in WWE for usage in commercials promoting the PPV debut, a deal that was put together by former WWE Executive Shane McMahon. Dana White has spoken highly of Vince McMahon and WWE and visited with him at WWE HQ in Stamford, CT earlier this year.
The two sides working together isn't outside the realm of possibility, but in this case, that's not what is going on here.
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