5 Athletes You Never Knew Were MMA Fighters

By Jay Anderson /

3. Batista

Though he has now broken out in Hollywood thanks to roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and the upcoming Bond film Spectre, Batista (a.k.a. Dave Bautista) made a brief stop in the world of MMA along the way. Best known as a star of the WWE, where he was a member of Triple H's Evolution stable (after earlier working with Devon Dudley), and eventually becoming champion, Batista had a life-long love of MMA, and decided to give it a try. He was successful - up to a point. He won his first and only professional MMA fight in 2012, after training in jiu-jitsu and being awarded his purple belt under Cesar Gracie. His opponent, Vince Lucero, was a 40-fight journeyman, but a win is a win (which came via TKO in the first round). While there was talk of a second fight, it never came to be as his acting career exploded.