Former WWE star Bobby Lashley makes MMA debut
December 12, 2008
COCONUT CREEK - Bobby Lashley sees the look on people’s faces when he tells them he wants to win mixed martial arts titles.
The strapping hulk of a man can hear it in their voices when he is mentioned in the same sentence as World Wrestling Entertainment and Kimbo Slice.
“Those are the people who don’t know me, what I’m about or where I come from,” said Lashley between two-a-day workouts at American Top Team.
At 32, Lashley is preparing to make his heavyweight pro debut Saturday night on the Mixed Fighting Alliance “There Will Be Blood” card at AmericanAirlines Arena. He will fight Joshua Franklin, a 30-year-old fighter also making his pro debut.
The former WWE fan favorite is part of a growing trend of wrestlers who hope to make it as professional fighters, including UFC champion Brock Lesnar, who recently knocked off legend Randy Couture.
“It wasn’t only about the money in the WWE, I enjoyed the crowds,” Lashley said. “I was in WrestleMania representing Donald Trump [in 2007] in front of 85,000 people [at Ford Field in Detroit]. It was crazy.
“I know what people are saying. I think I lost some of my credibility as a fighter, wrestler and competitor being in the WWE. I know I have a lot to lose.”
Lashley knows what he’s up against in the mixed martial arts world. Every day he looks around on the mats, the cage and boxing ring at ATT and sees some of the world’s best fighters well-versed in wrestling, submissions and striking.
However, since the UFC began 15 years ago, athletes with strong wrestling backgrounds have been successful. In the 1990s top amateur wrestlers Mark Coleman, Don Frye, Kevin Randleman, Dan Severn and Couture have all fought their way to the top for titles in the UFC, where top stars now command millions for fights and endorsement deals.
What the skeptics don’t know about Lashley is that before the WWE he was an accomplished wrestler for 18 years with Olympic aspirations. He chose the WWE “because I needed the money at the time and didn’t know if the opportunity would ever present itself again.”
Born in Junction City, Kan., the four-time All-American won three national wrestling titles (1996-98) for Missouri Valley College. He then joined the Army, where he continued to wrestle, and won a silver medal at the World Games, which set him up as an Olympic hopeful.
In 2003, Lashley was still wrestling and trying to make a transition into mixed martial arts when he was injured during a bank robbery in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he lived and hoped to train for the 2004 Olympic trials.
“I was going to the bank to put some money in and it got robbed,” Lashley said. “During the robbery I took a dive from a bullet that was shot at the back of my head. I busted my knee wide open and it ended my amateur wrestling career. It turned out to be my calling at the time.”
While rehabbing after a second surgery, the WWE came knocking “because I was big and they liked my look [6 feet 3 and 255 pounds of muscle] and athletic ability.” He signed with the WWE in November 2003 and moved into “pro wrestling and entertainment.” He was released on good terms in January.
“The WWE signed me right away and it kept me in great shape for mixed martial arts, which was always in the back of my mind,” Lashley said. “I knew I would always have an opportunity to come back and compete someday, even though people discredit what I did before the WWE.”
Along with opportunity came sacrifices. He moved to South Florida to train and build a new resume. His children, Kyra, 4, and 4-month-old son Myles live in Parker, Colo., where he visited for Thanksgiving before resuming training.
“That’s the tough part, but it’s what I have to do to get to that next step, ” Lashley said. “I am going to prove myself. I want to show people what I can do. This is where I want to be right now, without a doubt.”
