Mike Jackson didn’t show up to this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 104 event to push a fight with Phil “CM Punk” Brooks. He was just there to work.

The MMA journalist, photographer and onetime UFC fighter still had a little time to plug a fight he sees as a very logical step for the promotion – if Punk gets put back in the cage.

“You’re trying to make money, and that’s really the only reason we’re bringing this guy in in the first place, and it seems what’s best would be to allow me to fight him,” Jackson (0-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie backstage at this past Saturday’s FS1-televised event at Toyota Center in Houston.

It’s not the first time Jackson has asked the UFC to honor its capitalistic instincts. After Punk, a former pro-wrestling champ, expressed confidence a return to the octagon would happen, Jackson spoke up to MMAjunkie Radio and reasoned he’s the best candidate for Punk (0-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), a bankable attraction whose lack of experience was brutally exposed by Mickey Gall (4-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) this past September at UFC 203.

“He can’t go in there and fight dudes with a lot of experience, as opposed to bringing in someone else with very limited MMA experience,” Jackson previously said. “It only makes sense to put us both in there.”

Since then, nothing has changed about Jackson’s pitch. A fight with Punk is an expedient way to put some money in the bank. It can be even be done in Texas.

“I can’t sell tickets in Chicago or Las Vegas,” said Jackson, who runs the MMA-geared website mikethetruth.com. “I can sell tickets in Dallas.”

Punk recently told FOXSports.com he’s working “feverishly” on getting UFC President Dana White to commit to a date, mentioning his native Chicago as a potential host city. But recently, there hasn’t been much evidence his return is anything more than the same type of self-serving campaign in which Jackson has been engaged. White said this past October that Punk’s next fight “probably shouldn’t” be in the UFC (via YouTube):

That’s bad news for Jackson. But it’s hard to imagine he’d turn away an opportunity to fight Punk on another stage. Wherever he turns up, he’d like to make the former WWE star pay for calling him “a can” after his ill-fated effort against Gall.

“Let’s see who the real can is here, and let’s make some money doing it,” Jackson said.

Check out Jackson’s interview full interview above.

And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.