Professional wrestling, particularly the WWE, has been ingrained in pop culture for over 50 years. The sports entertainment spectacle has garnered tremendous interest from all ages, blowing up internationally in the 1980s with the rise of Hulkamania and Andre the Giant.
MMA and its highest professional league, the UFC, is a recent phenomenon in comparison, rising to real prominence in the last ten to fifteen years. There was a period in the late 2000s/early 2010s that pointed towards a great talent swap, with many predicting many professional wrestlers would jump to UFC and vice versa. However, bar a few exceptions, it has yet to materialise. With many predicting stars would change it up, what hindered the crossover?
Brock Lesnar’s time in the UFC
The Next Big Thing has been The Animal ever since he set foot into the squared circle. Brock Lesnar is a phenomenal athlete with a background in amateur wrestling. Even when he turned his hand to UFC, his sheer size and speed were something to behold. What he lacked in experience, he made up for in athleticism.
You’d never see Lesnar with the technical ability of someone like Islam Makhachev, who is defending his Lightweight Championship against Alexander Volkanovski, the Featherweight Champion. Makhachev may be favoured in the outright markets for MMA bets at 3/10 against the Australian, but it will be one of the most technically advanced fights in the UFC in 2023. Although Lesnar would never be able to hold his own in that regard, he was still a dominant force during his short stint.
Lesnar first joined the UFC in a one-fight contract against Frank Mir. Although he did show signs of being quite raw to MMA, his sheer size allowed him to take down his opponent and dominate at times. His lack of experience caught up with him, though, and Mir soon forced him into submission.
He may not have scored a victory in his first bout, but he soon came storming back. Lesnar rose quickly to prominence, backed by his fame from the WWE. With star appeal and undeniable talent, he was fast-tracked to a title shot in just his third fight, winning the belt. He soon got his revenge on Mir in a gruelling ground and pound in his first title defence.
Lesnar had one more title defence before losing the belt and subsequent match; he left after that. He returned for one more bout in 2016, but his career was short and explosive. Lesnar was able to get by on athleticism and his amateur background, other wrestlers who could make the jump would soon realise that the Octagon is a different animal to the squared circle.
Ronda Rousey’s WWE career
The other most noteworthy and compelling recent case of professional wrestling and UFC crossover is Ronda Rousey. Along with Conor McGregor, Rousey helped push UFC to new heights in the 2010s.
Having two stars that garnered so much attention really moved UFC into the mainstream, thanks to Dana White’s clever promotion. Although McGregor certainly needed no help when it came to self-promotion, Rousey wasn’t as personable and needed a team behind her.
Her dominant spell in the UFC saw her go undefeated for ten straight fights, eight of which were as champion. The aura of invincibility made fans watch until Holly Holm made it all fall apart when she knocked her out. Her return fight against Amanda Nunes proved to be one fight too many as she was dominated in her last-ever UFC bout.
She stepped away from the Octagon and moved into the WWE under the guise of Rowdy Roddy Piper. Rousey has had a successful time in professional wrestling, even becoming the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Champion. However, although helpful in UFC, mic skills are not required; you’re judged on your in-ring ability. Within the world of WWE, you need personality and have to cut promos to make it big.
Although Rousey has certainly developed her own in-ring personality, she did need help in promotions early on. Like Lesnar lacked the technical ability in UFC, Rousey fell a little short in her mic skills early on.
Training and requirements
What can be seen from two of the best in each realm eventually crossing over is that certain aspects may be less sharp when you step into that other world. WWE is sports entertainment; you need to be able to sell the fights on the mic as equally as on the mat.
For wrestlers making the switch to UFC, you must be prepared to come against fighters who have been training their entire lives. Their technical ability will far exceed what you will start off with, and the UFC is brutal; there isn’t much of a learning curve.
With UFC more popular than ever, fighters are picking it up earlier than ever. A wrestler coming into MMA would want to have a background in fighting to have a hope of competing. It’s not an insult to anybody in either field; even Lebron James would struggle if he suddenly switched to the NFL. In fact, we saw that when Michael Jordan went to play baseball.
