Pro Wrestlers Who Have Competed In MMA

One of my biggest Sherdog head-scratchers were the people who were upset when Nakamura beat Ignashov. Especially the professed Japanese MMA fans. For what he did to Steve Williams alone the man had to go down.

Young Dr. Death is almost a guaranteed MMA champion though.

Why would he be an mma champion? His standup is terrible. For a guy that plays a tough guy he ducks his head to avoid getting his and doesn’t look to throw back. He basically turtles up after getting hit and didn’t show much fight IQ by ducking into that knee for a second time.

Not a real life fighter for sure
 
Bam Bam Bigelow
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Scott Bigelow
0-1 in MMA
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Looks like a work imo
 
Why would he be an mma champion? His standup is terrible. For a guy that plays a tough guy he ducks his head to avoid getting his and doesn’t look to throw back. He basically turtles up after getting hit and didn’t show much fight IQ by ducking into that knee for a second time.

Not a real life fighter for sure
Are you familiar with his college wrestling and football accolades? The guy was a beast. What he did decades removed from his physical prime doesn't mean squat. He proved who he was on the mat and on the football field, there are very few people who were every able to be double D1 All-Americans in wrestling and football. 100% sure he'd have been a champion had taken it up in his physical prime.

Of course he would have had to learn some things, never said he wouldn't. But his monstrous physical strength, durability and of course, awesome wrestling would have served him well. Its all speculation at this point but I think he would have definitely been a champ.
 
Dan Severn rarely gets mentioned.
I used to go to that guy's gym for a minute, Michigan Sports Camp. He trained professional wrestlers out of that place and actually, during classes with a lot of people, people would often end up in the pro-wrestling ring if the mats were filled up.

Someone told me he actually got KO'd momentarily while rolling with me because of the ricochet of the ropes. He thought it was pretty awesome, never stopped talking about it. He was a big, big guy so maybe that increased the tension when the ropes snapped back.

I think the Alpha Male was there around that time.
 
Del Rio got headkicked by cro cop lol. Man deserves it too

Sean o haire also did like a dozen fights. Fought in K1 or PRIDE I think. He wasn't very good
 
Are you familiar with his college wrestling and football accolades? The guy was a beast. What he did decades removed from his physical prime doesn't mean squat. He proved who he was on the mat and on the football field, there are very few people who were every able to be double D1 All-Americans in wrestling and football. 100% sure he'd have been a champion had taken it up in his physical prime.

Of course he would have had to learn some things, never said he wouldn't. But his monstrous physical strength, durability and of course, awesome wrestling would have served him well. Its all speculation at this point but I think he would have definitely been a champ.

He still got taken down multiple times and knocked out in the Brawl for all against Bart Gunn who went 1-1 in MMA losing to a guy who has fought at 170lbs

Hard pass on him being that legit a fighter. He had zero standup to speak of. His MMA fight and brawl for all showed Zero defense, zero head movement and a wild punching technique.

Chin = seen him fight 3 times and knocked out twice. We might know he isn’t glass jawed by any means but 2/3 by KO isn’t great.

Punch power = Isn’t blessed with heavy hands. His one win was a barrage of clubbing shots against a totally overmatched guy. Not a one punch clean KO.

He was 38 in the brawl for all, that’s not an old heavyweight.

I’ve no doubt he would have won fights, I’ve no doubt his fights would have been entertaining. I’d have been a fan solely because he had a massive heart, he would fight till he was done. Also age wise he’d have been close to Dan Severn who would have kicked his ass from pillar to post for even thinking about looking at his championships

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He still got taken down multiple times and knocked out in the Brawl for all against Bart Gunn who went 1-1 in MMA losing to a guy who has fought at 170lbs

Hard pass on him being that legit a fighter. He had zero standup to speak of. His MMA fight and brawl for all showed Zero defense, zero head movement and a wild punching technique.

Chin = seen him fight 3 times and knocked out twice. We might know he isn’t glass jawed by any means but 2/3 by KO isn’t great.

Punch power = Isn’t blessed with heavy hands. His one win was a barrage of clubbing shots against a totally overmatched guy. Not a one punch clean KO.

He was 38 in the brawl for all, that’s not an old heavyweight.

I’ve no doubt he would have won fights, I’ve no doubt his fights would have been entertaining. I’d have been a fan solely because he had a massive heart, he would fight till he was done. Also age wise he’d have been close to Dan Severn who would have kicked his ass from pillar to post for even thinking about looking at his championships

None of that means squat. Obviously he wasn't the same shape he was when he was a double All-American in football and wrestling. And 38 is pretty freaking old to get started. A young Dr. Death would have been a champion. He obviously would have trained in striking and hopefully in grappling as well. He would have looked totally different from what you saw in K-1 and Brawl for All. Maybe Severn would have beaten him, that's not really a major knock on him. Severn was possibly the most accomplished American wrestler not to make the Olympics and that was basically all because of Bruce Baumgartner, maybe the greatest heavyweight of all-time. But one thing Severn wasn't was a double All-American in football and wrestling. Sorry, there's no way you can accomplish a feet like that and not be a bad, bad man...which is what Steve Williams was.
 
Tank Abbott did both

Shouldn't Tito & Bonnar be on the list since they popped up on TNA?
 
Are you familiar with his college wrestling and football accolades? The guy was a beast. What he did decades removed from his physical prime doesn't mean squat. He proved who he was on the mat and on the football field, there are very few people who were every able to be double D1 All-Americans in wrestling and football. 100% sure he'd have been a champion had taken it up in his physical prime.

Of course he would have had to learn some things, never said he wouldn't. But his monstrous physical strength, durability and of course, awesome wrestling would have served him well. Its all speculation at this point but I think he would have definitely been a champ.
The guy reacted to punches like a girl. Cool, in college he was an accomplished wrestler. A lot of college guys come through and don't cut it. The whole idea of him being this badass tough guy is just wrestling folk stories.

The guy couldn't throw a proper punch. Another cm punk for all we know
 
The guy reacted to punches like a girl. Cool, in college he was an accomplished wrestler. A lot of college guys come through and don't cut it. The whole idea of him being this badass tough guy is just wrestling folk stories.

The guy couldn't throw a proper punch. Another cm punk for all we know
There's no folk story about him being a double All-American in wresting and football. That more than qualifies him as an absolute beast. Even doing Brawl for All and K-1 at his age, with all the wear and tear of pro-wrestling behind him is a feat of toughness. If he had done MMA, I'd presume that he'd learn about striking and grappling, just as he had to learn about wrestling and football before he took up those sports and probably had to re-learn a lot when he transitioned from high school to college.
 
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