Ever since the sensational news of WWE and UFC merging under the Endeveor umbrella in a multi-billion dollar fans have speculated about stars swapping the octagon for the squared circle.
Before Vince McMahon and Ari Emanuel announced the mega-money deal on CNN, MMA legend Conor McGregor posted an image of himself wearing titles from both promotions, which led to a social media back-and-forth between the Irish megastar and Paul Heyman.
Following the merger, several other stars like former WWE Champion Dolph Ziggler have called out McGregor for a WrestleMania match while current UFC Welterweight Gilbert Burns also called out Brock Lesnar.
Now, another big name has expressed an interest in stepping inside the WWE ring after the mega-money merger of the two promotions.
UFC Champion Leon Edwards Expresses Interest In WWE Match
In an interview with BBC’s Newbeat, the current Welterweight Champion was asked about changing the octagon for the wrestling ring
“Get me on the top rope, I’ll give it a go for sure. I actually went to the event last year in Cardiff, Clash at the Castle. I took my son, it’s quite similar and the fans are really similar.”
If Edwards, McGregor or Burns were ever to crossover from MMA to WWE they certainly wouldn’t be the first. Several other MMA stars have made the transition.
In 1997, Ken Shamrock entered the WWF for a successful wrestling career. That same year highly-decorated MMA legend Dan Severn also made the jump to Vince McMahon’s company.
Most notably Ronda Rousey. The Baddest Woman on the Planet was long touted to join the company after her cage fighting career ended and at WrestleMania 34 she made her in-ring debut with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Since then she went on to win the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships and headline WrestleMania 35 with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.
Cain Velasquez also made the jump from the octagon to the squared circle for a feud with Brock Lesnar that saw the two former foes fight at Crown Jewel 2019 in Saudi Arabia. Speaking of Lesnar, the Beast famously quit sports entertainment in favour of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Lesnar debuted for Dana White’s promotion in 2008 and won the Heavyweight Championship that same year.
CM Punk also swapped wrestling for fighting in 2016 but to less favourable results.