WWE News: Stephanie McMahon training with former UFC fighter for WrestleMania 34 match with Ronda Rousey
What's the story?
Stephanie McMahon has taken to social media so as to reveal that she'’s been training with former UFC fighter Seth Petruzelli.
Apparently, Stephanie has been honing her striking skills ahead of her Mixed Tag Team Match against Ronda Rousey in a few weeks' time.
In case you didn't know…
Back in October of 2015, the WWE signed former UFC fighter and retired Mixed Martial Artist Seth Petruzelli as a striking coach, who helps train talent at the WWE Performance Center.
Petruzelli is perhaps best known to MMA fans as the first fighter to have knocked out Kimbo Slice, also known as the late Kevin Ferguson in pro-MMA competition.
The heart of the matter
The aforementioned fight garnered Seth Petruzelli a ton of notoriety back in 2008, as Kimbo Slice was wildly popular for his street-fighting videos at the time - thereby making Petruzelli one of the most sought-after fighters in MMA.
Nevertheless, Petruzelli suffered a few tough losses in the ensuing years before retiring from the sport of MMA in 2013. However, the man known as "The Silverback" has been working at the WWE PC since 2015.
Petruzelli went to social media, commenting on Stephanie McMahon's striking, having experienced it first-hand. Meanwhile, Stephanie responded by thanking him for the training session, whilst also hyping her match against Ronda Rousey in her Twitter reply.
What's next?
Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are set to compete against Ronda Rousey and Raw General Manager Kurt Angle in a Mixed Tag Team Match at WrestleMania 34, which takes place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 8th.
Author's take
Well, the biggest criticism which has time and again come to haunt Ronda Rousey over the course of her MMA career, has been her striking skills.
While Rousey exhibited decent offensive striking; knocking out a few competitors, her defensive skills in the stand-up department of MMA hurt her in the surprise consecutive defeats she most recently suffered in the UFC.
With that in mind, it'd be safe to say that Stephanie taking a shot at Rousey's striking seems to be an excellent mental warfare strategy on part of "The Billionaire Princess".