As Brock Lesnar was breaking onto the MMA scene in 2007, it was no secret that the former “Next Big Thing” was at one point a WWE heavyweight champion.
This did not sit well with a lot of MMA purists, who were willing to completely overlook the fact that Brock was a former two-time NCAA All-American as a collegiate wrestler.
Lesnar, whose complications from diverticulitis have limited him to just seven MMA fights in four years, has become a “love him or hate him” type of fighter with his sometimes over the top personality.
After a recent interview with online pro wrestling magazine The Wrestling Press, it seems unlikely that Lesnar is making any new fans by giving the WWE a ton of credit for his popularity in MMA.
Bloody Elbow was kind enough to reprint some of the most interesting excerpts:
“I’m not stupid—without the WWE, the WWE made me a household name and increased my value tenfold before I even pursued the UFC. Could I be where I am today without the WWE? Probably not.”
“Could I be drawing the same numbers that I’m drawing? Probably not. I brought a lot of fans over, a lot of crossover fans that I brought, just from the general public and WWE fans, I believe.”
While it would be difficult to find a counterargument for what Lesnar had to say, some fight fans simply have a hard time acknowledging that professional wrestling has helped MMA in anyway.
In Lesnar’s case, it would be ignorant to say that he didn’t instill wrestling fans with some curiosity to check out the UFC and perhaps MMA in general.
Interestingly, UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle will go head-to-head against WWE SummerSlam this Sunday, marking one of the very few occasions when Dana White and Vince McMahon will compete for ratings.
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