5 stars who you might not know who tried MMA
To put it bluntly, MMA is one of the toughest sports in the world. Not only does any athlete looking to compete in it need to be highly skilled in multiple areas and possess a phenomenal cardio base, but they’ve also got to be incredibly tough and willing to take punishment from their opponent.
Over the years we’ve seen a number of well-known stars – mainly athletes from other sports – dabble in MMA, with varying degrees of success. The likes of Brock Lesnar (pro-wrestling) and Matt Mitrione (NFL) saw UFC success but others haven’t gotten close to reaching those kinds of heights – remember Jose Canseco’s ill-fated attempt to fight in DREAM?
Those three fought on the highest stage, but here are 5 stars that you might not have realised dabbled in MMA.
#1 Batista
One of the biggest stars to break through in the world of WWE since the ‘Attitude Era’ ended in around 2001, Batista rose to fame as part of Triple H’s Evolution group and eventually went on to success as a singles star, winning the WWE Title twice and the World Heavyweight Title four times. By 2010 though, Batista had tired of life as a pro-wrestler, and unconvinced by the direction of WWE, decided it was time for him to move on.
Batista – real name Dave Bautista – had been known to be training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie for some time during his WWE career, and so it was not a big surprise following his WWE release that he announced he’d be embarking on a career in MMA. He even claimed to be negotiating a contract with a pre-Zuffa buyout StrikeForce, but when that didn’t materialise most fans figured he was full of hot air.
It might come as a surprise to people who haven’t followed the career of Batista outside WWE carefully then, that he actually did compete in professional MMA for a single fight, facing journeyman Vince Lucero in October 2012 for the CES promotion on a pay-per-view event entitled ‘Real Pain’.
Batista won the fight in about four minutes following a takedown and a series of punches from the mount, but he didn’t look all that convincing and given he was already 43 at the time of the fight, it made sense that it was a bucket list deal for him to tick off rather than a new career, and he hasn’t returned to MMA since. Instead, he’s become a successful actor, starring in the Guardians of the Galaxy series as well as the James Bond movie Spectre.