Shark Fights have become the latest promotion to hire the services of Bobby Lashley (6-1 MMA).
Lashley, a former WWE star, looked less than stellar in his last bout for Titan Fighting Championships as he took a lackluster decision against light heavyweight John Ott.
Shark Fights announced the signing recently and the preliminary indications are that he will make his debut in November.
Lashley was lined up for a showdown with UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez, at Titan Fighting Championships 19, but this was scratched due to personal reasons.
Shark Fights has risen in profile over 2011 and the organization currently broadcasts via HDNet and FUEL TV and will be hoping that Lashley’s dual fanbase will translate into crossover revenue.
The former NAIA national wrestling champion has only one blemish on his professional record, a loss to Chad “Gravedigger” Griggs, which happened at Strikeforce: Houston in August 2010.
Is this true ? the best move would fight for ProElite ( PELE ) ??
thoughts ???
King Mo" Lawal, Rafael "Feijao" Ronaldo "Jacare" de Souza, Tim Kennedy, Jorge Gurgel, K.J. Noons, Bobby Lashley, and Chad Griggs are set and ready for tomorrow night's fights!
Tomorrow night on Showtime, StrikeForce “Houston” will air live from the Toyota Center in Texas. Former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley will face off against Chad Griggs in the opening televised bout. Lashley will attempt to keep his undefeated streak alive and Griggs will attempt to derail the popular fighter’s hype train.
Enjoy the fights everyone.
* * * *
CHAD COOK VS. ARTENAS YOUNG
Round 1 -
HUMBERTO DELEON VS. CHAD ROBICHAUX
Round 1 -
JOSE SANTIBANEZ VS. REYNALDO TRUJILLO
Round 1 -
KIER GOOCH VS. ADAM SCHINDLER
Round 1 -
RICKY LONG VS. VINICIUS MAGALHAES
Round 1 -
ANDRE GALVAO VS. JORGE PATINO
Round 1 -
DANIEL CORMIER VS. JASON RILEY
Round 1 -
BOBBY LASHLEY VS. CHAD GRIGGS
Round 1 -
JORGE GURGEL VS. K.J. NOONS
Round 1 -
TIM KENNEDY VS. RONALDO "JACARE" SOUZA
Round 1 -
MUHAMMED "KING MO" LAWAL VS. RAFAEL "FEIJAO" CAVALCANTE
Tonight's event features two title fights. In the co-headliner, Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza meet for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title, and in the night's main event, Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal takes on Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante in his first title defense. Lightweights K.J. Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel and heavyweight Bobby Lashley vs. Chad Griggs also compete on the main card.
On Saturday at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, Nick Diaz won the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship Belt in the main event of “Strikeforce: Miami”. He got victory by defeating Marius Zaromskis with the help of his unaccountable punches. Other winners include a 47-year old former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker who, in his debut batch, outclassed Greg Nagy with solid strikes and full control. While on the other hand, Bobby Lashley also made his Strikeforce debut with a win.
Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos got 145-pound women’s championship belt by defeating Marloes Coenen in the third round. In their match, Cyborg looked indefensible and her opponent did not get any advantage of her skills.
Melvin Manhoef who was looking good, earlier, lost his match immediately from Robbie Lawler after Lawler connected with an overhand right.
weigh-ins, but that doesn't mean nothing notable happened.
was on the scene at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., and we'll fill you in some of the details below.
-- Herschel Walker looks ridiculously good for a 47-year-old man. He's lost a little bulk since his NFL days, but he's still sculpted and muscular. We'll find out on Saturday whether he can fight, but we found out on Friday that he's in shape.
-- Walker's opponent, Greg Nagy, is pudgy and doesn't appear to be in particularly good shape.
-- There wasn't much space for fans in the room where the weigh-ins took place, but the few fans who did turn out were vocal in their support of Melvin Manhoef, who got the loudest cheer of all the fighters on the scene. Manhoef has fought almost all of his career in Japan and isn't known beyond the hard-core fans in the United States, but those hard-core fans love him.
-- After weigh-ins and medical examinations were completed, Marloes Coenen and Cris Cyborg had one final piece of business: A pregnancy test, which is the only additional step that female fighters must go through before they get licensed. The commission did not immediately release the results of the pregnancy tests, but there was no indication that either Coenen or Cyborg was pregnant so presumably they're clear to fight.
-- Coenen and Cyborg also provided the best staredown of the night. They looked intense.
-- Watching Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis standing in front of each other, it's plain to see that Diaz has a significant height and reach advantage. It's going to be awfully tough for Zaromskis to overcome that disadvantage and land one of his patented head kicksJOHN CLARK VS. JOE RAY
Strikeforce Weigh-in Results:
Frank Shamrock (180) vs. Nick Diaz (180)
Cristiane Santos (152)* vs. Hitomi Akano (143.5)
Benji Radach (184) vs. Scott Smith (184)
Gilbert Melendez (154) vs. Rodrigo Damm (154.5)
Brett Rogers (262) vs. Ron Humphrey (239)
Luke Rockhold (186) vs. Buck Meredith (185)
Eric Lawson (186) vs. Waylon Kennell (185.5)
Raul Castillo (183) vs. Brandon Michaels (187.5)**
The November 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites. In addition to the numerous MMA web sites that publish the Independent World MMA Rankings, you can also access the rankings at any time by going to http://www.independentworldmmarankings.com/. Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel. These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (Fight Opinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Freelance); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Jim Murphy (The Savage Science); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Heavy.com); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA and Head Kick Legend). Note: Due to the fact that he has not competed in the welterweight division for over one year and has no plans to do so in the foreseeable future, Jake Shields is no longer eligible to be ranked in the welterweight division. He is, however, eligible to be ranked in the middleweight division. Note: Due to the fact that he has not competed in the heavyweight division for over one year and has no plans to do so in the foreseeable future, Randy Couture is no longer eligible to be ranked in the heavyweight division. He is, however, eligible to be ranked in the light heavyweight division. November 2009 Independent World MMA RankingsBallots collected on November 24, 2009 Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.) 1. Fedor Emelianenko (31-1, 1 No Contest)2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1, 1 No Contest)4. Frank Mir (12-4)5. Shane Carwin (11-0)6. Brett Rogers (10-1)7. Alistair Overeem (31-11, 1 No Contest)8. Junior dos Santos (9-1)9. Cain Velasquez (7-0)10. Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1) Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.) 1. Lyoto Machida (16-0)2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-4)3. Rashad Evans (13-1-1)4. Quinton Jackson (30-7)5. Anderson Silva (25-4)6. Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1)7. Forrest Griffin (17-6)8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3)9. Dan Henderson (25-7)10. Thiago Silva (14-1) Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.) 1. Anderson Silva (25-4)2. Nathan Marquardt (29-8-2)3. Dan Henderson (25-7)4. Vitor Belfort (19-8)5. Demian Maia (11-1)6. Jake Shields (24-4-1)7. Chael Sonnen (24-10-1)8. Yushin Okami (23-5)9. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)10. Jorge Santiago (21-8) Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.) 1. Georges St. Pierre (19-2)2. Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 No Contest)3. Thiago Alves (16-6)4. Josh Koscheck (14-4)5. Matt Hughes (43-7)6. Dan Hardy (23-6)7. Paulo Thiago (12-1)8. Mike Swick (14-3)9. Carlos Condit (24-5)10. Marius Zaromskis (13-3) Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.) 1. B.J. Penn (14-5-1)2. Shinya Aoki (22-4, 1 No Contest)3. Eddie Alvarez (19-2)4. Kenny Florian (11-4)5. Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2)6. Diego Sanchez (21-2)7. Gray Maynard (8-0, 1 No Contest)8. Frankie Edgar (10-1)9. Joachim Hansen (19-8-1)10. Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1) Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.) 1. Jose Aldo (16-1)2. Mike Brown (22-5)3. Urijah Faber (22-3)4. Hatsu Hioki (20-4-2)5. Bibiano Fernandes (7-2)6. Raphael Assuncao (14-1)7. “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (17-3)8. Wagnney Fabiano (12-2)9. Manny Gamburyan (10-4)10. Michihiro Omigawa (8-8-1) Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.) 1. Brian Bowles (8-0)2. Miguel Torres (37-2)3. Takeya Mizugaki (12-3-2)4. Masakatsu Ueda (10-0-2)5. Dominick Cruz (14-1)6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)7. Joseph Benavidez (10-1)8. Damacio Page (12-4)9. Rani Yahya (15-4)10. Will Ribeiro (10-2) The Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on. The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting. The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups. Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight. Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked. Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until he has his first fight in the new weight class. Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.
Bob Sapp is fighting stateside in just a few days. It's good to see "The Beast" back. But don't be shocked if you see a smaller Sapp against pro wrestler Bobby Lashley on Saturday at Ultimate Chaos in Biloxi, Miss. After years of fighting in the 350-380 pound range, he's down to 320. It's a necessary move. Sapp's gas tank has always been shaky plus he's 35 years old now. All good reasons to trim weight plus when you break a toilet, you're too big.
Listen to Sapp with Larry Pepe on ProMMARadio:
Sapp told Pepe that once he broke a porcelain throne it was time to go on a sushi and ramen diet. Believe me, I'm an expert on fat slobs working in radio, the home of gluttonous pigs. Sapp isn't the first guy that I've heard broke a toilet. It was long rumored that a "big" time Southern California radio host made a toilet tap. There's another story of a national radio host breaking the chair that he was sitting in during his job interview. Both of the hosts now work for one of the three big national radio networks.
It's a little different with Sapp, we know the guy is an athlete. He was never Tank Abbott fat. Anyone who's rocking abs at 350 pounds is freakish. Of course, there are also some who may say that Sapp cleaned up his "supplement" diet knowing he was coming to the states. Either way, he should have a little more stamina facing a high energy guy like Lashley.
When Bobby Lashley made the switch from pro wrestling to mixed martial arts, he was good-natured about the obvious jokes about pulled punches and scripts.
But at some point, Lashley got tired of the routine. Mike Cook failed to get the memo and got the message the hard way, being choked completely out with a guillotine in only 24 seconds in the former three-time NAIA wrestling champion and World Wrestling Entertainment star’s third pro MMA fight on Friday night.
Cook (7-4) came to Thursday’s weigh-ins for the Maximum Fighting Championship show in Edmonton, Alberta, wearing a mask of Lashley’s former cohort Rey Mysterio in an attempt to mock Lashley, and Cook made the statement that Lashley would defecate in his pants when he got hit with a real punch.
Perhaps Cook, a heavyweight out of Frank Shamrock’s camp, should have known better because he had a 2006 defeat against another former pro wrestler, Daniel Puder, and his coach also has dabbled in pro wrestling in Japan.
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Lashley, now significantly smaller than in his pro wrestling days and slightly lighter than in his two previous bouts, took the calm approach. He refused to touch gloves, and like an amateur wrestler, he grabbed a front headlock and sprawled.
When they got to the ground, he quickly turned it into a guillotine, and it was only seconds later that Cook passed out, causing ref John McCarthy to stop the match.
“I just yanked him down and got the vice grip on him and squeezed and felt him go out,” Lashley said.
Lashley (3-0) seemingly atoned for a lackluster performance in his previous fight, a three-round decision over journeyman Jason Guida in which he almost was finished with a guillotine in Round 3 by a late replacement who usually fights at light heavyweight.
“I’m here for business,” said Lashley, who is billed at 6-foot-3 but was slightly shorter than the 6-2 Cook. “I’m here and everyone wants to and tries to make fun of the wrestling thing. I’m real. If they want to play around, I’ll knock them out or choke them out. And that’s what I did. I choked him out and made him pay. Now he can go put the mask back on and have fun with himself.”
Lashley faces 6-foot-4, 345-pound Bob Sapp (10-3-1) in his next fight June 27 on a pay-per-view show from Biloxi, Miss. Sapp has gone into seclusion in the mountains in Japan training at a judo facility. Sapp competes May 26 at the Yokohama Arena in Japan as part of the same freak show tournament that Jose Canseco is in.
“I’m going to keep the competition going and keep the fights going,” Lashley said.
Several former UFC fighters appeared on the show held at The Venue at the River Cree Casino and Resort before a sellout of 1,500 fans, which also included an announcement that Jason MacDonald, just cut from UFC, would return to the promotion in September and attempt to win the group’s middleweight title.
Trevor Prangley, 36, who fought in the UFC from 2004 to 2006, captured the MFC light heavyweight championship in a five-round decision over Emanuel Newton (11-4-1), stopping Newton’s nine-match winning streak.
Prangley (20-5) looked like he was tired, standing still, moving slow and even at times with his hands on his hips, as early as the first round. But he connected with crisper shots. At no point was either fighter in serious danger, but in the final second of the fifth round, Prangley caught Newton in the jaw with a kick, which put down Newton.
Prangley looked to have hurt himself, as he limped badly back to his corner.
“I actually hurt my foot in the second round, but that kick finished it off,” Prangley said. “We’re warriors. I put the pain in the back of my head and would have continued.”
He was awarded the title on scores of 48-46, 49-46 and 49-46 while Newton looked on in disbelief. Yahoo! Sports had it 49-45, even though rounds two through four were close. McCarthy docked Newton a point in the second round for a knee to the groin.
“I feel bad taking the belt in a fight that was that close,” Prangley said. “I think he deserves another chance, but ultimately it’s not up to me.”
David Heath, who fought in UFC from 2006-2008, lost a split decision to Edmonton native Travis Galbraith (17-6) on scores of 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Yahoo! had it 29-28 for Heath (11-5), but neither man established himself as a clear winner.
John Alessio (29-13), whose background includes stints with UFC, PRIDE, WEC and Dream, hurt Calgary’s Andrew Buckland (8-4) with a punch, went to the ground and got his back to finish with a choke in 2:53 of the first round.
Ryan Jimmo (10-1) dominated Mychal Clark (8-6) in winning a three-round decision.
The televised opener saw 39-year-old Marvin Eastman (16-9-1), who holds the distinction of beating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in both men’s pro debut nine years ago, finish Aron Lofton (6-2) with elbows and forearms on the ground at 59 seconds of the second round.
– Dave Meltzer
Strikeforce: Controversial main event; Kaufman shines
The Strikeforce Challenger series on Showtime is designed to be a B-level showcase. But Friday night’s card at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., was as eventful as any major card.
The main event was battle of attrition that finished prematurely, as Billy Evangelista dinged a downed Mike Aina in the head with a running knee and was disqualified at 3:40 of the second round. Replays, however, appeared to show Evangelista may have connected to Aina’s shoulder.
“I took him down, worked some ground and pound, and he looked like was ready to get up,” Evangelista (10-1) said. “I saw an opening, and I timed it and saw he had his arm up so I let it fly. Whatever, it happens.”
Aina, who is best remembered for a 2007 match with Nick Diaz in which he lost a controversial split decision, got the better of the standup and won the first round. But Evangelista was dominant in the second round, scoring a takedown off a single-leg and working Aina over on the ground.
Referee Herb Dean consulted with the cageside physician, who ruled Aina couldn’t continue.
“I don’t know, man,” Aina (12-6-1) said. “I don’t want to take a win like this. If it was up to me I would take this fight off my record.”
In the evening’s semifinal match, Sarah Kaufman and Meisha Tate showed that there is more to women’s MMA than just Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos. Kaufman, a late substitute for Kim Couture, ran her record to 9-0 with a unanimous decision victory.
Kaufman, a Muay Thai specialist from British Columbia who won all her previous fights by knockout, took it to Tate in the standup in the first round. But Tate (6-2) showed great heart in taking the damage and staying standing.
Tate, a champion wrestler from Tacoma, Wash., imposed her game plan in the second round, scoring a takedown early and spending most of the round raining down a ground-and-pound assault.
But Kaufman responded in the third and final round, sprawling out of Tate’s takedown attempts and doing enough standup damage to claim the victory.
“Meisha did a really good job,” Kaufman said. “I hit her with some hard shots. I’m happy I just got a chance to step in here.”
Kaufman also said women should fight five-minute rounds as men do, not three-minute rounds.
“It’s really hard to get something going continuously,” Kaufman said. “Five minutes, all the way. C’mon guys.”
The card featured what could end up the one-punch knockout of the year as heavyweight Lavar Johnson (12-3) dropped Carl Seumanutafa (4-1) in just 18 seconds. The Samoan shot in for a takedown. Johnson sidestepped the attempt and popped Seumanutafa with a bull’s-eye of an uppercut to the jaw as he passed by, knocking him cold.
“I knew he was a big strong dude, and I thought I was in for a rough night,” said Johnson, who has all but one of his career wins via KO. “I was surprised.”
In the broadcast opener, featherweight Bao Quach won a unanimous 29-28 decision over Tito Jones that did not go over well with the audience. The first two rounds were largely action-free, but Quach (16-9-1) landed several effective low kicks and stuffed Jones’ only takedown attempt.
In the third, the Urijah Faber-trained Jones (6-3) nearly finished the fight with a crisp right hook to the jaw, but Quach escaped an attempted choke and got back to his feet. Jones inexplicably backed off at the round’s midpoint and didn’t initiate further action for the remainder of the fight instead of attempting to finish Quach, which clearly cost him a potential 10-8 round and thus a draw.
In a light heavyweight match, Aaron Rosa looked impressive in a first-round submission win over veteran Anthony Ruiz (21-13). San Antonio native Rosa (12-2) withstood a standing series of strikes and responded with an uppercut followed by a slam. Rosa gained side control and worked his way into a rear naked choke for the finish at 4:29.
Bobby Lashley raced across the cage at the bell, picked up Joshua Franklin and viciously slammed him to the floor.
This all in the first 15 seconds of the one-time World Wrestling Entertainment star’s professional mixed martial arts debut on Dec. 13 in Miami.
Lashley, exhibiting an uncommon mixture of speed, quickness, power and strength, went on to win that bout in 41 seconds, showing the kind of potential that makes promoters want to get his name on a contract.
He’s powerfully built, comfortable performing in front of a crowd and athletic enough that one could easily forget you’re watching a 250- pound man move around the cage.
Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?
It’s the same sort of path UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar took after departing professional wrestling. And though Lashley doesn’t see the many similarities that are drawn between himself and Lesnar, he hopes to replicate Lesnar’s success.
“Brock has obviously done exceptionally well in the short period of time he’s been fighting,” the physically massive but exceptionally soft-spoken three-time NAIA national champion said. “Anyone who is in this profession would like that kind of success.”
Lashley, 32, faces veteran Jason Guida on Saturday in a combined boxing/MMA pay-per-view card in Pensacola, Fla., in the second step of his professional journey.
The one-time soldier professes great respect for Guida and insists he expects a difficult test despite Guida’s so-so 17-19 record. Lashley isn’t short on competitive experience, having wrestled four years in high school and in college, as well as in the Army, but he concedes that someone with nearly 40 pro MMA fights is a challenge for a guy with less than a minute of pro experience.
“I definitely have to take into consideration that he has a lot of
ring experience,” Lashley said. “Anyone with that kind of experience poses some danger to a newcomer. I can’t just go in expecting to dominate the match, because I know the guy has some tricks from being around so long.”
That hardly means that Lashley plans an extended feeling-out process. He’s significantly bigger than Guida and plans to find out how well Guida will be able to deal with his size.
If Lashley is true to his word, Guida’s going to have a 250-pound knot of muscle in his face not long after the bell rings.
“I’m throwing these 250 pounds in his face real quick and see if he has what it takes to withstand the abuse and the punishment,” Lashley said. “If he does, it’s going to lead to a longer fight. If he doesn’t, I’m thinking it will be a real short fight.”
Many fighters as large as Lashley are ponderous and can’t fight at a sustained pace for long periods of time. But he insists he’ll be able to push from the start – “I am in phenomenal shape right now,” he says – because he wasn’t always a heavyweight.
He began growing very quickly while he was in college and morphed into a physical specimen who retained the fast-twitch muscles of someone much smaller.
As a freshman in high school, he was a 110-pounder wrestling at 112. As a sophomore, he began wrestling at 119, but was getting bigger almost by the day and competed at 125, 130 and 135 all in the same year. He was a 140-pounder as a junior and a 160-pounder as a senior.
He was recruited to wrestle for Missouri Valley College as a 158-pounder. Problem was, he had already shot up to 195 by the time he hit campus. He never stopped growing and quickly became a massive heavyweight with a bantamweight’s instincts.
“You think of heavyweights as slow-moving, big, strong guys, but I grew up and learned the sport small,” Lashley said. “I learned how to move with a faster pace of training when I was small, and I was able to keep going at that pace as I got bigger and kept growing.”
After winning three NAIA wrestling championships in his four years at Missouri Valley, he had a stint in the Army, winning two Armed Forces championships. He then caught the eye of the WWE’s Vince McMahon, who knew that Lashley’s physique, athleticism and personality made him a natural for professional wrestling.
He was put into the WWE’s developmental program and competed in Ohio Valley Wrestling. By 2005, he was in the WWE. Lashley went on to a successful career and captured the ECW title.
He endured the grueling regimen of a professional wrestler, competing up to 250 days a year despite all manner of injuries. But McMahon lost interest in him not long after Lashley had shoulder surgery.
Lashley hadn’t lost the desire to compete and decided to make the move to MMA, where he has trained with the vaunted American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla. Like Lesnar, who instantly became one of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view attractions thanks to the fan base he’d accumulated as a pro wrestling, Lashley understands that much of the interest in him these days can be attributed to his relationship with the WWE.
“This is a fight, but you have to remember that fighting is still
entertainment,” Lashley said. “The fact that I’m bringing a different fan base to fighting, and a large fan base, will help me. I’m in my second fight and I’m one of the top names on the pay-per-view. That’s because I am bringing a different fan base with me. I don’t mind the pressure of the expectations, because I’ve been an athlete and I’m used to that. I have a job to do and I’ve trained hard for it.”
Lashley is smart enough to realize that while his WWE affiliation has gotten him in the door, he’s going to have to prove himself to the MMA fans who may be skeptical about him.
“This is a results-oriented business and it’s up to me to take
advantage of the opportunity I have been given,” Lashley said. “Of course I want to make it to the highest levels of this business. Who doesn’t? I’m not expecting anything to be given to me, though.
“I want to create a buzz, but I want to do it by the way I fight.”
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