The Best WWE Professional Wrestlers who fought in MMA

These days, it’s not too unusual for retired MMA fighters to become professional wrestlers after retirement. The most notable case of this is Ronda Rousey who reinvented herself as a WWE superstar. This was probably an easy transition for Rousey who was already a skilled grappler and had a big fan following. So, her venture into WWE was almost seamless.

Of course, professional wrestling is scripted and although it can be hard on the body, it isn’t as competitive as MMA. With this in mind, we’ve written a list of the best WWE professional wrestlers who fought in MMA. For the record, we are only listing those who started as pro wrestlers before making the switch to the cage.

In other words, we will not be including those like Rousey who started as MMA fighters yet later joined professional wrestling. This means the likes of Dan Severn and Frank Shamrock will not be included. Although these three are all MMA legends who were probably the best in the UFC during their peak, they didn’t start out as professional wrestlers.

WWE Wrestlers who did well in MMA

Brock Lesnar

It’s widely regarded that Brock Lesnar was somewhat of a genetic freak who could have competed in practically any sport he wanted to. During high school he was a dominant D1 wrestler and could have joined the NFL. Regardless, he chose WWE as his career, and arguably this was a solid decision.

Anyway, after a few years in WWE, Lesnar decided to venture into MMA and eventually joined the UFC. Until this point, many had speculated whether he could perform in the UFC as obviously professional wrestling is vastly different compared to MMA. To begin with, Lesnar was a stud college wrestler which gave him a tremendous advantage when it came to fighting. Not only this but due to his freak strength, he also had other attributes.

After just a few months training striking – Lesnar made his debut and won in K-1 after just one minute. Controversially at the time, Lesnar was also fast-tracked in the UFC due to his stardom. The PPV buys spoke for themselves and it wasn’t long before he was given a fight against the Heavyweight champion, Randy Couture. Lesnar knocked out Couture in the second round and made history in the process.

After this, Lesnar would go on to fight the likes of Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez and retired with a record of 5-3. Arguably, this was one of the weirdest records in MMA history. On the face of it, 5-3 doesn’t sound great.

However, during that time he won a UFC belt and beat some of the all-time greats. Staggeringly, seven of his UFC fights happened in a 3 year period. Just like he had came into MMA, he then left and went back to the WWE. After his UFC run, a lot of fans started to appreciate the role that genetics and raw power had in fighting.

Bobby Lashley

Another fan favorite in the WWE was Bobby Lashley who also faired well in MMA. Unlike Lesnar, he did not join the UFC but instead opted for a career in Bellator. For WWE fans, Bellator is viewed as the second biggest promotion behind the UFC which shows how good Lashley was.

Having said this, Lashley didn’t start in Bellator and did smaller promotions to begin with. As well, he wasn’t really fast-tracked either and had to earn his stripes. However, if you look at the record of some of his opponents, it’s fair to say that Lashley didn’t exactly fight elite fighters. Eventually, Lashley would become a Bellator regular and retired with an impressive 15-2 record. Interestingly, he never got a title shot despite ending on a five-fight win in the company with his other losses coming in other promotions.

Some would argue that this was because of his lack of meaningful opponents but nonetheless, the results speak for themselves. Lashley was also gifted when it came to college wrestling which certainly helped. During his college days, he earned a 144-26 record and applied these skills to the octagon where his takedowns lead to the bulk of his victories. After his success in Bellator, Lashley would eventually wind up working for Vince McMahon at the WWE yet again.

Dave Bautista

It’s fair to say that Dave Bautista’s MMA career was short and sweet. Here, he had one professional bout where he beat Vince Lucero by punches in the first round. It’s fair to say that Lucero was a bit of a jobber and retired with a record of 22-26. Before fighting Bautista, he even went on a 9 fight-losing streak earlier on in his career which speaks volumes.

In fairness to Bautista, he was 43 when he made his debut though and unlike the aforementioned, he wasn’t a natural wrestler either. In the build-up to the fight, Bautista also trained in striking and learned BJJ which he still practices to this day.

Watching the fight, it was clear that Bautista was the better of the two and had more raw power. However, it was equally as true that he lacked precision and his transitions looked sloppy at times. Perhaps this was a case of Bautista genuinely wanting to test himself in the cage and he wasn’t looking at it as a full-time career. This theory may have been proven when he retired and focused on acting. It looks like this was a great decision as well as he successfully relaunched his career as a Hollywood A-lister.

Alberto Del Rio

Many younger WWE fans may not realize this but shortly after his professional wrestling career, Alberto Del Rio was a legitimate MMA fighter who fought mostly in Japan during the early 2000s. Fighting in Deep and PRIDE, he would eventually quit MMA with a 9-6 record. During this time he had fights against MMA legends such as Mirko Cro Cop and Tito Ortiz and even went on a six-fight win streak.

Like others on this list, Del Rio was a genuine wrestler before his fighting days and applied this to MMA – literally. In one bout against Kengo Watanabe, Del Rio broke his opponent’s arm after performing a belly-to-belly suplex. This was proof of his grappling prowess and enormous strength and power.

Most of Del Rio’s wins came by way of submission and he most commonly used the rear naked choke which counted for five out of six of his wins. In other words, it’s fair to claim that Alberto Del Rio wasn’t just a grappler and was also a submission wrestler as well. After quitting MMA he eventually wound up in the WWE where he became a fan favorite.

Shinsuke Nakamura

Before going on to become the WWE United States Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura had a brief stint as an MMA fighter which took place after he made a name for himself as a pro wrestler in Japan.

Nakamura’s MMA career was fairly short and sweet and took place in under two years. After losing on his debut to Daniel Gracie, he went on to retire with a 3-1 record. You guessed it, all of his wins came by submission which is typical of Japanese pro wrestlers. The reason for this is that unlike US pro wrestling, Japan often features more submissions so it translates well when being used in MMA.

It looks as though Nakamura decided against an MMA career to focus on pro wrestling and overall, this seems like a smart decision. After years of grinding, he would eventually make it as a global superstar which looks as though his decision was justified.

Other Professional Wrestlers who did well in MMA

Aside from the USA, the second biggest country in the world for pro wrestling is Japan. In fact, Japan has a lot to answer for when it comes to both professional wrestling and MMA. Whilst it’s a long-winded story, Japanese pro wrestlers started Shootfighting which crossed pro wrestling with MMA.

This would eventually turn into fully fledged MMA with promotions such as Shooto pioneering the sport in the far east. In other words, without Japan and professional wrestling, the world of MMA would look vastly different. Here are some other wrestlers that made a successful transition from professional wrestling to MMA who never wrestled for WWE.

Kazushi Sakuraba

Widely regarded as one of the most entertaining fighters of all time, Kazushi Sakuraba made a name for himself in PRIDE where he would literally fight (and often defeat) opponents who significantly outweighed him.

During his career, Sakuraba proved that his wrestling could successfully be applied to MMA and showed expert grappling. He beat Royler, Renzo, and Ryan Gracie during the 90s which earned him the name of Gracie Hunter. If you’re familiar with MMA and BJJ history then you’ll understand how much of a compliment this title is.

Such was Sakuraba’s love for professional wrestling, he also utilized this in his entrances. Here, he would often wear a máscara when entering the arena and almost treated his MMA career like it was pro wrestling. In quite a serious industry at times, Sakuraba had fun with it whilst also beating some of the best in the game.

Masakatsu Funaki

Like Sakuraba, it’s fair to say that Masakatsu Funaki was also an MMA icon and Japanese pioneer. Here, he mostly fought in Pancrase during the 90s and retired with a respectable 39-13 record. As you’d expect with a Japanese pro-wrestler, most of his wins came by way of submission, and these varied massively. He even won fights with an Achilles lock and calf slicer that proved his versatility and modern approach to grappling back in the 90s.

With wins over both Frank and Ken Shamrock as well as Bas Rutten, Funaki showed that was a true MMA legend. This would be Bas Rutten’s first ever loss which was done by toehold. Apparently, this is what inspired Rutten to learn submissions and go beyond just being a kickboxer. Sadly, these days Funaki isn’t given the respect he deserves and is criminally underrated in terms of MMA history.

If you’re a fan of WWE and MMA then check out this WWE Encyclopedia book.