UFC and WWE have a long history as stars tend to switch professions between the two sports. While fighters are perhaps trained in terms of fighting for both sports, WWE is scripted whereas UFC is as real as it gets. Here are four superstars who were a part of both UFC and WWE.
1. BROCK LESNAR
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A WWE Hall-of-Famer, Brock Lesnar made his WWE debut back in 2002 and just five months later he became the youngest WWE Champion in the history of the sport. In 2005 he showed interest in professional wrestling and decided to make the jump to MMA. In 2008, Lesnar signed an official contract with UFC, and with just four fights in the Octagon, Lesnar got a shot at the heavyweight title against Randy Couture at UFC 91 which he comfortably won by a second-round KO. The Beast went on to defend the title against heavyweights like Frank Mir and Shane Carwin but eventually lost it to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.
2. RONDA ROUSEY
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Ronda Rousey made the opposite switch – from UFC to WWE in 2018. During her time in the Octagon, she was crowned as the first UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and went on to defend the title for the next six fights by taking out every opponent in the very first round, either by submission or by KO. Her defeat to Holly Holm in her seventh bout was her first-ever defeat in UFC which ended her three-year run as the champion.
3. CM PUNK
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CM Punk began his fighting career at WWE where he spent nearly ten years of his life during which he won two WWE Championships and three World Heavyweight Championships. In December 2014, he left WWE to join UFC where his first bout was against Mickey Gall where he was taken out in the first round by submission. He fought his second match in 2018 to face Mike Jackson inside the Octagon where after three rounds, Mike was declared the winner by unanimous decision. After this defeat, UFC President Dana White stated that Punk should end his UFC career, and that’s what he did.
4. SHAYNA BASZLER
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The current WWE women’s tag team champion Shayna Baszler was a UFC fighter before making her way into WWE. She began her MMA career in 2006 and got to make her UFC debut in 2013. On her debut, she fought Colleen Schneider who “The Queen of Spades” defeated via an armbar submission in the first round itself. In 2015, she had the fight of her life against the great Amanda Nunes at UFC fight Night 62 where she lost to the Brazilian via a first-round knockout. In 2017, Baszler finally decided to part ways with UFC and made her WWE debut.
Shashank Iyer