Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts may be very different forms of entertainment, but the two worlds have always shared a connection. Both require elite athleticism, physical toughness and the ability to perform under intense pressure in front of a live audience.
The growth of MMA has brought even more attention to that connection. Major UFC events attract viewers from across the combat sports world, with some adult viewers also wanting to know where to bet on UFC when the promotion puts together one of its biggest cards.
Several fighters have tested themselves in both the cage and the wrestling ring. Some started in professional wrestling before entering MMA, while others used their fighting backgrounds to launch entirely new careers in sports entertainment.
Here are five UFC fighters who also competed in professional wrestling.
Brock Lesnar
Few athletes have experienced as much success across different sports as Brock Lesnar. Lesnar first established himself as an elite amateur wrestler at the University of Minnesota, where he won the NCAA Division I heavyweight wrestling championship in 2000. His combination of size, strength and legitimate wrestling ability quickly attracted WWE’s attention.
Lesnar signed with WWE in 2000 and made his main-roster debut in 2002. It did not take long for him to reach the top, as he defeated The Rock to become WWE Champion just months after his debut.
After major rivalries with The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Big Show and several other top stars, Lesnar left WWE in 2004 and attempted to begin a career in the NFL. He later wrestled in Japan before turning his attention to mixed martial arts.
Lesnar made his UFC debut in 2008 and defeated Randy Couture later that year to capture the UFC Heavyweight Championship. His run included memorable fights against Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem.
He eventually returned to WWE in 2012 and immediately became one of the company’s biggest attractions. Lesnar went on to win several more world championships and famously ended The Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak in 2014.
Matt Riddle
Matt Riddle built his name as a professional fighter before becoming a full-time wrestler. Riddle appeared on the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter and made his UFC debut in 2008. He competed inside the Octagon for several years before turning his attention to professional wrestling.
Rather than immediately joining a major promotion, Riddle spent years developing his skills on the independent wrestling circuit. His MMA background helped him stand out, but he also worked to become a complete professional wrestler instead of relying entirely on his legitimate fighting experience.
WWE signed Riddle in 2018 and assigned him to NXT. He eventually teamed with Pete Dunne as The BroserWeights, with the pair winning the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Riddle’s biggest success on WWE’s main roster came alongside Randy Orton. The two formed RK-Bro and became one of the company’s most popular teams, winning the Raw Tag Team Championship twice. Riddle left WWE in 2023 and continued wrestling for promotions around the world. He later became MLW World Heavyweight Champion and remains involved with Major League Wrestling.
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey was already one of the most recognizable fighters in the world before she stepped inside a WWE ring. Rousey won a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympic Games before beginning her professional MMA career in 2011. She quickly became a major star in Strikeforce and was later named the first UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
Her success helped convince UFC to feature women’s divisions after company president Dana White had previously resisted the idea. Rousey defended the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship six times and became one of the promotion’s biggest attractions.
After stepping away from UFC, Rousey signed with WWE and made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. She quickly captured the Raw Women’s Championship and became one of the first women to headline WrestleMania when she faced Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 35.
Rousey later returned to WWE in 2022 and won the SmackDown Women’s Championship twice. She also captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Shayna Baszler before leaving the company in 2023. Her combat sports career was not finished. Rousey returned to MMA in May 2026 and submitted Gina Carano in just 17 seconds during the first MMA event promoted by Most Valuable Promotions.
Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock was crossing between professional wrestling and mixed martial arts before most people had even heard the term MMA.
Shamrock began his professional wrestling career in the late 1980s before traveling to Japan. He competed for promotions including Universal Wrestling Federation and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi before becoming one of the founding stars of Pancrase.
His experience in Japanese professional wrestling and submission fighting prepared him for the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993. Shamrock defeated Patrick Smith before losing to Royce Gracie in the tournament semifinals.
Shamrock became one of UFC’s earliest stars and developed a major rivalry with Gracie. He later became the first UFC Superfight Champion and was eventually inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
In 1997, Shamrock returned to a more traditional form of professional wrestling when he joined WWE. Presented as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man,” Shamrock immediately entered major programs with Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock and Shawn Michaels.
Shamrock won the Intercontinental Championship, the World Tag Team Championship and the 1998 King of the Ring tournament during his WWE run. He later competed for TNA Wrestling and became the first world champion crowned in the company, winning the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA’s inaugural event in 2002.
Junior dos Santos
Junior dos Santos did not spend as much time in professional wrestling as the other names on this list, but the former UFC Heavyweight Champion still managed to make an impression in AEW.
Dos Santos entered UFC in 2008 as a major underdog against Fabricio Werdum. He shocked the MMA world by knocking Werdum out in just over one minute. That victory launched an impressive winning streak that eventually earned dos Santos a shot at Cain Velasquez. Dos Santos knocked Velasquez out in 64 seconds in 2011 to capture the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
After years of competing against the best heavyweights in MMA, dos Santos appeared on AEW television in 2021 as part of Dan Lambert’s American Top Team group. Dos Santos made his professional wrestling debut on the October 15, 2021 episode of AEW Rampage. He teamed with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page against Chris Jericho, Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara.
He returned to the ring at AEW Full Gear the following month, competing alongside Dan Lambert, Andrei Arlovski, Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page in a Minneapolis Street Fight against The Inner Circle.
Dos Santos continued competing in combat sports after his AEW appearances. He captured the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA Heavyweight Championship in 2024 and returned to traditional MMA in May 2026, losing to Robelis Despaigne by first-round knockout.
The connection between UFC and professional wrestling is unlikely to disappear. Wrestling promotions value the credibility and name recognition that established fighters bring, while professional wrestling gives MMA stars an opportunity to entertain audiences without being limited to traditional competition.
Which UFC fighter do you think made the best transition into professional wrestling, and which current fighter would you like to see enter the ring next? Let us know what you think in the comments.
