It was a rough start, but former WWE star Dave Bautista weathered the early storm and came out on top in his mixed martial arts debut Saturday night.
Headlining CES MMA‘s “Real Pain” event in Providence, R.I., Bautista somehow survived the heavy hands of late replacement Vince Lucero before finishing the veteran of more than 40 fights via technical knockout late in the first round.
A number of UFC veterans also came out of last night’s show victorious, as John “Doomsday” Howard and former middleweight top contender David “The Crow” Loiseau both finished their opponents with devastating, early TKO stoppages.
After the fights, Bautista, Lucero and more gave their thoughts on how the main event went, fighting for a good cause as well as the former WWE champ’s future within the sport of MMA.
Bautista‘s own mother even weighed in with her thoughts on her son’s performance and how far he has come over the years.
Yours truly was there to cover all the exciting action, so check out an exclusive highlight and recap video from the CES MMA post-fight press conference in the video embedded above.
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