When it comes to professional sports, a lot of athletes like to try their hands at more than one, and rightly so. They have many talents so it is only right that they make the most of them. One of the biggest areas for crossover is professional fighting as there are a number of different types. Over the years we have seen many UFC fighters switch professions and become wrestlers. There are a number of reasons why they do this but let us go ahead and take a look at some of the best UFC fighters who have turned to wrestling.

If you could take anyone currently in the UFC and cross them over to wrestling, who would be your top UFC picks? Would you like to see someone like Nate Diaz enter a wrestling ring? What do you think the odds of him winning a wrestling match would be? Maybe you’d prefer to see “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis take on your favorite wrestler? Either way, there is no doubt that some of these crossover athletes have brought a lot of entertainment to our lives!

Odds are by now most people have heard of an athlete that has made the switch in their careers. One of the other upsides to all of this is that it opens up odds for bettors. Just because you are good at MMA doesn’t always mean that you will be good at wrestling. This is true in a lot of cases as we actually see betting odds placed against numerous fighters in their first wrestling matches. This also means should you have faith in your favorite fighter and that they are the underdog, you could possibly make some good returns if they win their first professional wrestling match.

So with that being said, let’s take a look at some of those over the years who have made the switch.

• Tank Abbot – While his wrestling career never really took off in the WCW, he was poised to do amazing things. They had brought him in with the hopes he would be a good contender for the likes of wrestlers like Goldberg, but nothing really ever came of this. Instead, he became more of a joke used for entertainment purposes and eventually was let go.
• Ken Shamrock – Depending on how old you are, you may or may not have known that he had an amazing UFC career before he joined up with what was known at the time as the WWF. Shamrock achieved a number of accolades throughout his career in both the UFC and WWF and is even a member of the UFC Hall Of Fame! Alongside the WWF, Shamrock also wrestled for TNA, Japan Pro-Wrestling, and more, just further extending the greatness of his career!
• Tito Ortiz – Once known as one of the most marketable bad boys in UFC, Ortiz had a knack for irritating his opponents and getting under their skin. The most memorable was the time when he annoyed Ken Shamrock so much that Ken actually kicked a chair at Ortiz. Of course, Ortiz found this amusing but this was just the type of guy he was. Ortiz made his wrestling debut in 2005 and would make quite a few appearances for TNA over his career.

  

• Ronda Rousey – Probably one of the bigger names to make the crossover of the past few years, Rousey was another that fancied some time outside of the octagon and instead, in the ring. Alongside her career in the UFC which saw her defend her Bantamweight Championship six times, she also won the bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics. Rousey always had her eye on wrestling and after a pair of massive losses to Holm and Nunes, she decided it was time to make the switch. Rousey joined the WWE and has even held the WWE Raw Women’s Championship belt.
• Shayna Basler – While she only had a very short-lived UFC career, Shayna was one of the original women to fight MMA and helped pave the way for women’s MMA to be a recognized sport. While she did appear in a season of The Ultimate Fighter, she didn’t manage to get any wins. After this, Basler managed to use her style to get signed by the WWE and even managed to win the NXT Women’s Championship not once, but twice!

Going from the UFC to wrestling seems like a natural fit for some. However, there are just as many wrestlers that make the jump to MMA and the UFC as well. Either way, these athletes must go through extensive training and have an amazingly positive mindset to be able to fight or wrestle in any type of professional setting. Even with the odds stacked against them, fighters from either sport are always ready to go out there and give it their all, if for now other reason than to stick it to their haters. While one would imagine they also want to prove to themselves they can do it, sticking it to a hater must also feel equally as good.

One of the things you can bet on these days is that Covid-19 could play a drastic part in messing up any sporting event. Most recently, the WWE live event in Quebec is having some uncertainty whether or not it will go ahead as the province is being shut down by covid. While the UFC has been a bit luckier if you will, during Covid times and not yet had to shut down because of it, it is still a great possibility that it could happen at any given moment in time. Dana White is proud that the UFC has been able to continue as it means people still have jobs they are getting paid to do which means they have a stable roof over their heads and food on their table during these current times! It’s almost getting to the point where we may have to start betting on whether or not the events will go ahead, instead of betting on who will win!