9 Wrestlers Who Became MMA Fighters

6. Batista

Fed up with the direction of the company, and in particular his own booking, Dave 'Batista' Bautista left WWE under a particularly dark cloud in 2010. Vowing to remain away from the squared circle for the foreseeable future, Big Dave began exploring other avenues.

Bautista's enormous size and fighting credentials meant a desk job was never likely for the lapsed wrestler, and after attaining the rank of purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, 'The Animal' set to thrashing out a deal with MMA outfit Strikeforce.

Negotiations were protracted, to say the least, and the company was eventually subsumed by Zuffa, ending Dave's hopes of a long awaited shoot-fight. Another deal was eventually reached with Classic Entertainment and Sports for a fight opposite Rashad Evans, but the latter ended up back in jail before the contest could occur, again scuppering Batista's hopes.

Finally, on 6 October 2012, Bautista made his long-awaited MMA debut, handily beating the veteran Vince Lucero in the first round.

He hasn't had another fight since, and given what a faff on it was organising his maiden bout, who can blame him? Since his first WWE departure, Bautista has carved out another, even more successful career: as a Hollywood superstar. Why risk his body in the very real world of MMA or the slightly less real world of pro-wrestling, when he can rake in megabucks in the entirely pretend universe of the silver screen?