Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley will make his long awaited mixed martial arts debut at Mixed Fight Alliance: “There Will Be Blood” at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., on December 13.
No opponent has been named at this time, but that hasn’t stopped local radio stations in the South Florida area from promoting the appearance almost two months out from the actual event.
Lashley was a three-time national champion collegiate wrestler at Missouri Valley College from 1996-1998. After college he turned professional and it wasn’t long before the enormous and naturally gifted athlete made his way into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) … the pinnacle of the industry.
WWE President and CEO Vince McMahon more or less brought Lashley in as a replacement for Brock Lesnar — who at the time had recently retired and now competes under the UFC banner. He needed a big buy like Lesnar who could come in and wow the crowd with his freakish size, strength and athleticism.
Ironically, Lashley is once again following in Brock’s footsteps as he attempts to make the transition into the sport of mixed martial arts.
Lesnar — who will fight for the UFC heavyweight championship next month in only his fourth professional fight — has obviously already made his presence felt big time in the fight game. It’s going to be interesting to see if Lashley can produce similar results.
It certainly doesn’t hurt his cause that he gets his day-to-day training at American Top Team (ATT) in Coconut Creek, Fla., which has a sick stable of fighters, including heavyweights Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson, Thiago Alves, Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante, Wilson Gouveia, Denis Kang, Thiago Silva and many others to train with and learn from.
Lashley is 32 years old, which isn’t young in today’s mixed martial arts world, so he’ll have to learn quickly if he wants to make his mark. But his background in wrestling along with his size and strength advantage should provide him with enough of a base to be competitive on a big stage right away.
We’ll find out on December 13.
Lashley is currently under contract with the American Fight League (AFL). The two parties inked a two-fight deal with an option for a third earlier this year. But like most of the other fighters under contract with the fledgling promotion, he still has the freedom to fight in other organizations so long as it doesn’t interfere with any AFL obligations.
The promotion decided to hold off on its inaugural event until sometime in early 2009, clearing the way for Lashley to compete on the December 13 MFA show.
Jeff “The Snowman” Monson (26-8) is also expected to be in action at the American Airlines Arena along with Lashley. An opponent has not yet been named for him either at this time.
84 Comments »
wonder if he will be a force or just another bob sapp
thats what i was thinking. he does have a pretty good wrestling background(not great like brocks) and appears to be a very good athelete. his size and stength alone make him an interesting fighter to watch out for. training with att does’nt hurt either. then again he could just be another bob sapp, just not as big. only time will tell.
i already see a roids post below me. like ive said before it wouldnt surprise if every single wwe/f wrassler took something throuout his career, but as long as they test clean in mma, i wont SPECULATE on anything. does anyone know what weight he wrestled at in college btw?
BW. Im gonna keep it real. Taking ROIDS is practically in a WWE athlete’s job description. Im with you, as long as they test clean in mma, the past doesnt affect me.
I too would love to know what weight he wrestled at in college.
I will admit that I will be very curious to see the his debut in mma. Im not ready to just label him a joke or a freakshow. We could always use new blood at heavyweight, and if he can transition the way brock has, just makes for better heavyweight fights which the sport needs. He is training at 1 of my favorite camps so he is on the right path!
According to the NAIA history, Lashley won championships in 1996-98 at 177 pounds. He was also a two-time Armed Forces champion, according to Wikipedia. He is now listed as 6′6 and 295 pounds. I guess the Army feeds its men really well.
DAMN!!!!!!!! THats insane! thanks for looking it up PW, Im being lazy today
I agree. It’s one thing to go from being a HW college wrestler to a WWE champ and MMA HW. It’s completely different for a guy to put on 120 pounds after college and look like he looks. That’s plenty of time to put it on naturally, but geez.
agreed. 100lbs is alot of muscle weight.
Thats not alot of muscle…… thats a shitload of muscle
HGH!!!!!!!!!
He definately took steroids, but as others have stated, that is the past. I am kind of curious as to how much of that weight and muscle he can hold on to without the use of steroids.
On a side note, I can’t think of anyone who ever added 120 lbs. of solid muscle after college without the use of many steroids. Wikipedia is not exactly the greatest source for info, but if that is true, then he put on an inhuman amount of size. Even with the use of steroids, your average gym rat could never hope to get that big.
Only the part about being a 2-time Armed Forces champion came from Wiki. The part about being a 3-time national champ at 177 came directly from the NAIA web site.
6′6 LOL 295 LOL you guys are funny…
Oh one more thing back then college guys cut 20 to 40 pounds below normal in season…if you played any sports you should know that.
I have played many sports, and I am currently a competitive powerlifter. I cut weight for every meet. That being said, who the hell cuts 40 lbs.? That is just bs.
Steve Allen cut 35 to 40 pounds for sure at Missouri Valley College when I was there…I will have him get on this blog and tell you about it.
What weight was brock as a collage wrestler, i’ve seen pictures… he’s kinda similar in the sence that he looks as though hes put on sssshhhhitloads of weight in the past 10 years. he looks big but jst sorta normalish in sum of his much older pics.
bobb sapp is where money is
Just another can of course.
He will be one of the best to ever enter the cage…and that is all I am going to say!
He’ll be in Brock’s shadow for a while especially if Brock beats Randy (which I don’t see happening)
Sorry pal, no phallus tattoo, no UFC contract.
Once this guy gets a few fights under his belt and as long as he keeps winning. It would be a great matchup one day with Bobby and Lesnar in the UFC. If this guy proves to be a winner no doubt in my mind Dana White will want this guy in the UFC.
if they both keep winning it would be an awesome fight. Lesnar vs. lashly “This time its for REAL” I can see it now!
Brock would eat Lashley all in one piece.
Yeah he’d devour him and as Tyson once said, he’d “pound him into bolivian.”
i might go and see this. I live in daytona beach, so its a little drive. depends on how much tickets cost.
i wonder what he looks like now because before he took roids he was 170 and and after he was 270+ so i wonder if all that extra weight without the help is going to be a burden on him
I’ve actually met Lashley’s cousin a few times, so I know what Lashley looked like before the, um, muscle gain. Not like an elite athlete, that’s what.
LOL!!!!! Dude are you serioue??? Bobby is one of my good friends and old college buds…he was a 3 time national champ and 4 time all american!!! He is one of the best athletes I have ever seen. You better check your history before you speak little buddy.
I have been good friends w/Bobby since before WWE…NOBODY understands what kind of athlete he is and I can’t wait for everyone to be shocked after his fighting debut…he can’t wait either!!
He truely is an AMAZING ATHELETE!!
I agree. I wrestled with him starting in junior high school. His dedication to the sport and to training his body was unrivaled in high school. He had a dedication and determination that was unlike any other athletes in our school.
LOL you guys are funny! Know this…Bobby can not leave the fight w/out winning. He has dominated in every level he’s been in…kids, high school, college, amature world competitions, professionally, and you will see Big Bob O on top of the world! This is all he knows…To FIGHT! If you want to know what kind of competitor he is play ANY game w/ him (doesn’t have to be physical) Anything…Spades, Chess…what ever! The man is Beast. As a matter of fact…Brock who?
Lashley and Kimbo for a HW TUF show would be good!
I like that idea JV
i do too, but i think kimbo would $hit his pants if lashley were standing across the cage from him.
TUF coaches don’t HAVE to fight eachother, even though TUFb 2 was the only one that they didn’t. They just do it to hype title fights, holding us, and the other contenders hostage. I hope they stop doing that very soon.
who said anything about them coaching?
What the hell would either of them teach anyone? That the counter move to being taken behind a Taco Bueno for a video taped brawl is to run your opponent into the ring post?
good point…i guess its pretty ridiculous to think they would be coaches
If they coach, they would even learn more from the TUFcompetitors. haha.
The face of the heavyweight division will totally change in about 2-4 yrs, more and more heavyweight wrestlers and athletic guys big guys are migrating to the UFC… these guys smell opportunity.
Eventually theyre gonna have to split up the HW division. Itb ranges 60 pounds right now, which is going to be unfair with guys like Lashley and Lesnar. They should go 205-240, and then 240-280. This would up the limit a little bit, but would still prevent sideshow talentless freaks like Bob Sapp and Paulo “Giant” Silva from becoming mainstream.
Look how much trouble the UFC has in finding legit HWs, not 215 pound guys who drop to LHW like Vera and Rashad did. If they had to fill two divisions who were legitimately within those two classes we would have two paper-thin divisions instead of one kind of weak division.
he said “eventually” PW. If they did that now it would suck but being the influx of these heavyweights that tip the scale at the 265lb limit, the future will need two different (3 including light heavyweight)heavy weight monikers.
Yeah, “evenyually” pw. In the future we will evolve to a superhuman race where there are several 250+ guys that are extremely athletic. not the 5 or 6 that currently reside on Earth.
Then they REALLY need to speed up that all-HW TUF so they have some guys to split up.
There are some ridiculously athletic guys out there at that size. Its called the NFL people. Take guys like Brandon Jacobs, and Micheal Strahan. Or even Terrell Owens. These guys are huge and amonmg the most athletic people in the world. I’m not saying its going to happen overnight, but in a few more years, you’re gonna have it. We’re at the ground floor when it comes to MMA, only a few years in. Wait a while and see what comes down the pipe. We’re going to see guys like Brock and Lashley all the time. People are going to dedicate their lives to MMA…INSTEAD of football or other sports, because MMA is more exciting.
I agree with that.
Very interesting
Does anyone know why he left WWE? Juice? Some of those pro wrestling websites have viruses and I hate going into them.
Probably the same reason Brock left! Always on the road, and lots of injuries.
thats a good question. i wouldnt mind seeing a in-depth interview with lasheley. MANIA?
Theres this one from YouTube
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wfQWggrGf4Y
And he was on an episode of M.M.A Live on ESPN… Youd probably find it on http://www.MixedMartialArtVideos.com
DirtbagHtr-
My brother is a HUGE wrestling nut.
WWE performers have no union, can get fired at any time w/o compensation, are pushed to perform with horrendous injuries, are encouraged to take drugs to deal with said injuries, have to travel constantly w/o compensation, have to deal with constant homosexual harassment, alcoholism is prevalent, an incredible amount of cronyism/nepotism, severely underpaid, etc., etc., etc.
Pick any of the above…
Homosexual harrasment? I dunno which homo would be stupid enough to harass these wrestlers.
LOL
Ravishing Rick Rude? from beyond the grave of coursse.
Brock said he made millions there. So i guess the top guys arent that much underpaid right?
Might be simply because MMA is becoming much exciting, much more popular, and wrestling is on the decline. The WWE OWNED the PPV ratings for many years, until the UFC blew them out of the water. Mark my words…Vince McMahon will either start or buy an MMA promotion eventually. Lets just hopem its not like the XFL.
Actually, MMA is not more popular than “wrassling” (Irony at its truest form).
Its an established, inbred carny like entertainment with an iron grip on its fanbase (which is surprisingly gigantic).
I would say $$$ is the main issue for the jump from WWE to MMA.
Lesnar walked away from guaranteed millions of dollars for years to come. He won’t match that in UFC. I think the appeal is not being on the road 300 days a year and only having to perform 3-5 times per year. And WWE is not going anywhere. Many of us have outgrown it, but there are always millions of people who will watch.
Or it could be that he wants to prove it to us or himself that he can do it. Because some wrasslers make a ton of cash…… more than most professional mixed martial artist
PW and Psyqo…you seem to forget that Brock left the WWE to become an NFL player…not an MMA fighter, and then bombed pretty badly. All that talk about him wanting to be a fighter from birth is BS, started by him and Dana White to add backstory. If that were the case, then he would have been training for MMA a few years earlier, and would probably already be a HW champ. And PW, he didn’t walk away from GUARANTEED millions of dollars. Pro wrestlers without much personality tend to fizzle out pretty quickly, and Brock didn’t have the right persoanlity to be a WWE legend.
he didnt have the right personality? I remember him being in tons of ppv main events. And wrestlemania even. So what are you talking about?
He would have fizzled out because he wasn’t capable of very many scenarios. He basically used his personality as a person. Not an act. He wasn’t a good actor. Thats all Im saying.
the big rumor was he left the WWE because his girlfriend who was a wwwe diva got fired cause she didnt want to do some storyline.
His official measurements are 6′6″ 295 lbs…… and we thought brock was a legit heavy weight……..
Those aren’t his real measurments. Those are his “billed” measurments….. Thats just a load of crap to make them seem even larger. Don’t get me wrong the dudes huge but not that huge.
you can look at his wiki page and Lesnar’s and in Lesnars it says height and weight where as Lashley’s says billed height etc….
Those aren’t his actual measurements. The WWE exaggerate everything. More like 6″3 255 lbs or something like that I’m guessing.
right. Just like the NBA wherein they list Larry Johnson[6′5]as 6′7.
Or like how Pride listed Fedor as 6 foot even. I never realized how tall he is until the Sylvia fight. I’d say he’s more like 6′3″.
Or like how they used to say Bisping is 6′2″ which he certainly isn’t. They’re saying 6′1″ now that he’s down at MW lol. He’s actually 6′0″ perhaps maybe a shade more.
and when they had Anderson Silva listed at 5′11..
who has been “long awaiting” his mma debut?
I hope this guy does great he’s taking a very respectful route and is going to build his self up as a fighter before trying to go the ufc. But I’m a little concerned with the way this guys head is. He has a huge frame and small head and chin. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go down after one hit.
huh that is surprising. last i’d heard, he’d been cut from the AFL due to attitude problems and a poor work ethic. i guess the information i heard was incorrect. it will be interesting to see how he does.
All you Brock fans miht want to stop barking so loud until you see Bobby Lashley in action!
He I wrestled with some of the best guys in the country over my career. went to school with Lashley and lived next to the guy for years. This guy is one of the best wrestlers that I have ever had the opportunity to spar with. He took Pat Smith who was a 4 timer in NCAA DI to a second overtime and one of the best all around matches that I have seen. So NAIA is no joke. Lashley is the real deal on the mat.
I am interested to see how this fight goes. There are alot of people who seem to want to say how good he is or isn’t when he hasn’t even competed in MMA yet. All I know is the guy he is fighting against is sure in a good position to gain from this fight. I mean noone has ever heard of this Joshua Franklin and everyone seems to expect him to lose. I personally think Bobby will lose this fight but lets see.
I think you are the greatest heavy weigt in wrestling and MMA.
Each time i see you on TV I of the undefeated black fighter. I wabt to be just like u when i grew up. I have the strengt, I have the speed, and I have the body. there is only one more thing I don’t have, I don’t have you to train me.
You are my greatest ahtleat
Each time i see on TV i think of superman
Keep it up man, and always remeber this when you are feeling let down, YOU ARE THE BEST FIGHTER OUT IN THE CAGE