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Over the years we have seen many wrestlers look to try their talents elsewhere, and that has led some to the UFC. There are some obvious differences between the two, but also many similarities too.
Some have had success, while others haven’t and the lengths of UFC careers have also greatly varied from just one bout to dozens.
Here is a look at three of the biggest names to undertake a career in both the UFC and the WWE.
For many, Ken Shamrock led the way for crossover stars. He spent many years as a WWE star, winning the intercontinental title, being tag team champion and also landing the King of the Ring crown.
However, he also had success in the Octagon, with a winning record of 28-17-2. Shamrock made it into the UFC hall of fame for his success under that banner, which included him headlining over 15 UFC shows.
In 1994, he was the first foreign fighter to win the Japanese MMA title, becoming the King of Pancrase.
Shamrock no longer fights after retirement in 2019 but he can still be found wrestling in Australia for the Battle Championship Wrestling organisation.
Lesnar is the biggest WWE name to go to the UFC in recent years and carved out an excellent career for himself.
In WWE, he won the WWE Championship just five months after making his debut in the sport and was the youngest ever WWE champion at just 25 years old.
He returned to WWE many years later and that is where he can be found today but in between he tried both UFC and even the NFL, where he was on the Minesota Vikings pre-season roster.
He landed the UFC heavyweight championship in 2008 before retiring from the sport in 2011. In 2016 he was back in the octagon but then failed a drug test that year and wasn’t allowed to compete at that. Retirement can in 2018, leaving Lesnar with a record of 5-3-0.
Nakamura is the one person on this list that is still active and you can find him on the WWE Smackdown program. You will no longer find him fighting under the MMA code, but he did back in his early days.
He ended with a 3-1-0 record, leaving as a winner and it has been a surprise to see him not go back and fight under MMA rules since then. He won the WWE Intercontinental title in 2019 though, and continues to push for a main role on Smackdown, which is clearly where his priorities lie at the moment.
With combatants such as Lesnar who are household names, UFC is a thrilling sport to place a bet on.
It became even bigger when UFC star Conor McGregor famously fought Floyd Mayweather back in 2017. Even though that fight was in the boxing ring it attracted enormous interest to both sports and millions of dollars were bet on the winner, with Mayweather came out on top.
UFC holds regular main events throughout the year, with the top names coming together to battle it out for titles. To get involved you can check out the latest UFC betting offers that the bookmakers have available to new punters. Then bet on markets such as whether there will be a knockout or which round the fight will be won in.
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