3. MMA Liaison
UFC
currently has over 425 fighters under contract. Bellator
has over 160 fighters under contract. World Series of Fighting
has over 145 fighters under contract. Every year, fighters leave the sport, quit or suffer injuries that force them to retire. Many fighters are cut from their contract. MMA is a difficult sport, and favors youth. Even if it was possible to only interest a small percentage (say 5%) of fighters, you'd still have a pool of more than 35 world-class competitors to start with. It's a popular sport in the US and full of hard-working athletes who can both perform and cut promos. There's a lot of potential. Professional wrestling has the advantage that while it's a physical performance, it's possible to work around injuries so that careers can be prolonged and weaknesses are hidden. There's a long history of stars moving between pro-wrestling and MMA and stars such as fighters such as Ken Shamrock, Bob Sapp, Don Frye and Tank Abbott have demonstrated varying levels of skill and ability. While pro-wrestling has long had connections between Olympic and Collegiate Wrestling, there has not been as many bridges built between MMA and WWE. Bringing on a skilled ambassador who could recruit and navigate both worlds will open a lot of doors. While some wrestlers like Undertaker and CM Punk are fans with a lot of "time on their hands", they are still true outsiders to the world of MMA. Someone like Brock Lesnar has navigated both worlds, but he's not, shall we say, a "people person". Instead, I think the trail would be best blazed by people like Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, who understand what it takes to be successful and can sell an athlete on their potential future. Another strong candidate would be someone such as Josh Barnett who has experience both fighting and wrestling all around the world. WWE would also do well to partner more with journalists, especially from other sports such as the MMA Media, who often have the inside scoop and very good leads on who has the interest, ability and potential to successfully transition to pro-wrestling.