Since WWE & UFC have combined forming the new TKO, we thought we would show you some of the top superstars who have joined the wrestling world from the octagon.
Ronda Rousey
MMA record: 12-2
Ronda Rousey, to date, is probably the biggest name to have made the crossover from mixed martial arts to the world of professional wrestling. Rousey had an extremely successful MMA career and just over 18 months into her professional stint, she revolutionised women’s MMA by being the first-ever UFC women’s champion and being involved in the first women’s fight in UFC history where she defeated Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 via first-round submission to retain her UFC women’s bantamweight title.
Following a disappointing end to her career with back-to-back KO losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Rousey made her official WWE debut as an on-screen talent on the 28th of January 2018, following the first-ever WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match. Rousey became a huge star and a legitimate talent following her first match at WrestleMania 34, where she teamed up with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. In just her first ever match, Rousey looked like an absolute natural and everyone knew at that point that she would go on to do great things and be extremely successful in WWE.
SummerSlam 2023 was the last match of Rousey’s WWE career, where she fittingly lost via submission to her close friend Shayna Baszler. Following the event, although it was not confirmed, it was heavily rumoured that Rousey’s contract was soon to be up, and she was going to be leaving WWE. Rousey did in fact leave WWE, and in an Instagram post on the 11th of October, she claimed she was retired. Despite her retirement announcement, Rousey returned to pro wrestling just weeks later for a one-month run where she most notably wrestled a match in Ring Of Honor, teaming with her close friend Marina Shafir against Athena and Billie Starkz. Rousey exited the WWE as a two-time Smackdown Women’s Champion, Raw Women’s Champion, Women’s Tag Team champion with Baszler, as well as a Women’s Royal Rumble winner.
Ken Shamrock
MMA record: 28-17-2
The Shamrock name is a legendary name in mixed martial arts with brothers Ken and Frank having both enjoyed extremely successful MMA careers, becoming UFC champions. Ken Shamrock was the man who made the Shamrock name recognisable in two different sports as he became a huge star in the WWF. Shamrock halted his MMA career in 1996 to pursue a career in pro wrestling and had a two-and-a-half year run in the WWF, where he won the Intercontinental Championship, Tag Team Championship with Big Boss Man, and also won the King of the Ring Tournament.
During his time in the WWF, Shamrock was involved in feuds with several legendary names in the world of pro wrestling, such as Bret Hart, The Rock, Vader, and British Bulldog. Shamrock enjoyed a successful two-and-a-half year run in the WWF, but left the company in late 1999 to resume his MMA career. Shamrock returned to pro wrestling three years later and signed a one-year contract with TNA and wrestled on the independent circuit as well as in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Shamrock’s last appearance in professional wrestling came just three years ago following a two-year run, once again with TNA.
Shayna Baszler
MMA record: 15-11
Shayna Baszler is another name who very successfully made the jump from MMA to professional wrestling. Baszler is an MMA veteran of 26 fights, having competed in promotions such as UFC, Strikeforce, and Invicta, as well as having shared the cage with the greatest female fighter of all time Amanda Nunes, as well as the terrifying Cris Cyborg.
Baszler made her pro wrestling debut in September 2015 and, prior to her signing with WWE in 2017, wrestled in the famous all women’s Japanese promotion Stardom. As mentioned, Baszler made her WWE debut in the Mae Young Classic, the tournament she made it to the final of despite at the time not being under contract with the company. On the 3rd of October 2017, WWE officially announced that Baszler had signed with the company and just two months later, NXT started airing vignettes teasing her arrival on TV.
Baszler is still with WWE now and remains a regular on TV as an on-screen character. Despite being 43 years old, she is still more than capable of putting on great matches and being in good storylines. As well as having many great matches and rivalries, Baszler has also been successful when it comes to titles and achievements. Baszler is a two-time NXT Women’s Champion, three-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion with two separate partners (Nia Jax (2) and Ronda Rousey), and is also an Elimination Chamber match winner.
Matt Riddle
MMA record: 8-3-2
Matt Riddle has enjoyed success in both MMA and professional wrestling but has found high-profile controversies of his to be the result of his downfall in both. Riddle was very publicly released from the UFC in 2013 following two positive tests for cannabis, which resulted in wins being overturned to no contests. Following these failed drug tests from Riddle, he received a very public bashing from UFC president Dana White where White went off on him on national TV for his inability to go without cannabis.
Following the end of his MMA career in 2014, Riddle decided to test the waters in professional wrestling. Riddle had a four-year run on the independent circuit before signing with WWE in 2018, where he was revealed as NXT’s newest signing at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. Riddle had a very successful two-year stint in NXT, winning the tag titles with Pete Dunne as well as winning the Dusty Rhodes Classic with Dunne too. On the 19th of June 2020, Riddle made his official main roster debut, defeating then Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles.
Riddle had a successful run on the main roster, which included a United States Championship reign and two separate runs with the Raw Tag Team Titles with Randy Orton in the popular tag team ‘RKBro.’ However, like his UFC run, controversies were the downfall of Riddle’s career as he violated the WWE wellness policy on multiple occasions and was released by the company on the 22nd of September 2023. Riddle is still active in wrestling. He currently wrestles on the independents as well as in Major League Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Valerie Loureda (Lola Vice)
MMA record: 4-1
Valerie Loureda is currently one of the top stars in the NXT women’s division, going under the name Lola Vice, but professional wrestling is not where she originally started to be known. Loureda made her name in the MMA promotion Bellator, where she fought five times, winning four times, including some big KO finishes, and losing once.
Loureda suffered the first and only loss of her MMA career at Bellator 259, losing to Hannah Guy via unanimous decision. Loureda bounced back from that loss with a win against Taylor Turner at Bellator 271, albeit in controversial fashion, via split decision. Despite getting back to winning ways, Loureda decided she no longer wanted to pursue MMA and instead turned her attention to professional wrestling.
Following a three-day-long tryout on WrestleMania 38 weekend, Loureda was signed by WWE and, in December 2022, announced she would now be going by the name of Lola Vice. Since her on-screen debut in January 2023, Loureda has been ever present on NXT TV and has cemented herself as one of the top heels in the NXT women’s division and looks to be a future star in WWE.
Josh Barnett
MMA record: 35-8
Josh Barnett is arguably the most successful MMA fighter to have made the jump into the world of professional wrestling. The former UFC heavyweight champion is an MMA veteran of 43 fights and has also competed in submission grabbing as well as bare-knuckle boxing.
Barnett kickstarted his pro wrestling career back in 2003, competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling while he was still actively fighting. The former UFC heavyweight champ has competed in multiple Japanese promotions as well as American promotions such as TNA, GCW, and even AEW, where he made his debut against Claudio Castagnoli in his only match in the promotion to date at WrestleDream.
Barnett has had a very successful professional wrestling career, bringing his catch wrestling and submission style to the United States, making it so popular that he now has his own event under the GCW banner called Josh Barnett’s: Bloodsport.
Alberto Del Rio
MMA record 9-6
Alberto Del Rio is a former multiple-time WWE champion and, despite having a successful but controversial career in wrestling, this isn’t where he started. Despite making his pro wrestling debut before his MMA debut, Del Rio started in mixed martial arts and fought in Japan-based promotions PRIDE and Deep.
Del Rio feuded with huge names such as John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton, and Daniel Bryan during his multiple WWE runs, but both of his times with the company ended in controversy. The end of his first run came as a result of being fired due to allegedly being involved in an altercation with a fellow employee, and his second run ended with him getting released by the company. Following this, Del Rio went off on the WWE for apparently not delivering on promises.
The two most high profile fights of Del Rio’s MMA career were against Mirko Cro Cop and Tito Ortiz. Del Rio found himself on the end of a vintage, vicious Cro Cop head kick and was submitted in the first round by Ortiz in his final fight in 2019.
Paige VanZant
MMA record: 8-5
Paige VanZant is another name who went from MMA to professional wrestling. Despite not being the most skilled or highly ranked fighter, VanZant made quite a big name for herself fighting in the UFC and ended her career with a record of five wins and four losses in the promotion. Her fight against Amanda Ribas at UFC 251 was the final fight of her MMA career and following this, she made the move over to BKFC, where she competed twice and lost twice.
On the 15th of September 2021, VanZant made her pro wrestling debut in AEW, where she appeared as a part of the American Top Team vs Inner Circle storyline. On the 9th of March 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, she signed her AEW contract live on air and would go on to only wrestle once for the promotion. Following some controversy around AEW talent releases, it was revealed by Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer just last month that VanZant was no longer with the company.
Tom Lawlor
MMA Record: 11-8-1
Tom Lawlor is another name who had a not so successful MMA career, but made a successful switch to professional wrestling. Lawlor fought in the UFC 11 times, winning six times and losing five times. In 2014, very much in the midst of his MMA career, Lawlor was an active wrestler on the American independent circuit and even competed in a WWE tryout.
Lawlor, very much like Josh Barnett, has very successfully brought a submission and catch wrestling style to professional wrestling, and it has worked extremely well for him and has brought him quite a lot of success in his wrestling career so far.
Lawlor has competed for companies such as AEW, Ring Of Honor, Major League Wrestling, as well as New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Lawlor made his AEW debut on the 23rd of June 2023 in the middle of a huge storyline between two of the companies’ biggest stars, MJF and Adam Cole. Lawlor would attack Cole, leading to the announcement of a match between the two at Forbidden Door. However, the match, unfortunately, did not go ahead as Cole had an illness.
Junior Dos Santos
MMA record: 23-10
Junior Dos Santos had incredible success in MMA as well as a short stint as a professional wrestler. ‘Cigano’ is a former UFC heavyweight champion, having competed in the company 23 times, winning 15 times and losing eight times.
In 2021, Dos Santos got his first taste of pro wrestling when he debuted for AEW. The Brazilian, like Paige VanZant, came into the company as a part of the American Top Team vs Inner Circle storyline. Dos Santos started appearing for AEW in the summer of 2021, but only wrestled for the company once, in a trios match, teaming with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page, taking on The Inner Circle, which consisted of Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager.
This was Dos Santos’ first and only match in AEW, and he hasn’t been in professional wrestling since.
Which MMA fighter turned wrestler is your favourite?