Tag: Dave Batista

Why Does MMA Care About CM Punk?


(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Did you hear? CM Punk might be headed to MMA.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard until just now, it’s not as if MMA news outlets have been talking about it at all recently.

So, in case you missed it, here’s what happened:

In an interview with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, famed straight edge pro wrestler and former WWE champ CM Punk expressed an interest in taking an MMA fight, as well as thoughts about his doubtful future with the WWE. Punk left the WWE not long after this interview.

To MMA fans and pundits, the urge to connect the dots was too great. Punk departed the WWE shortly after he mentioned MMA. Therefore, he MUST have left the WWE to start fighting.

Cue the insanity.


(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Did you hear? CM Punk might be headed to MMA.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard until just now, it’s not as if MMA news outlets have been talking about it at all recently.

So, in case you missed it, here’s what happened:

In an interview with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, famed straight edge pro wrestler and former WWE champ CM Punk expressed an interest in taking an MMA fight, as well as thoughts about his doubtful future with the WWE. Punk left the WWE not long after this interview.

To MMA fans and pundits, the urge to connect the dots was too great. Punk departed the WWE shortly after he mentioned MMA. Therefore, he MUST have left the WWE to start fighting.

Cue the insanity.

Rampant speculation about CM Punk, his MMA abilities, his MMA “career” and his potential opponent—which many slated as former Power Ranger Jason David Frank since Frank issued a public challenge to Punk—polluted MMA headlines across the Internet.

You know what’s worse? Legit MMA promotions took this seriously. Bellator “expressed at least preliminary interest” in the weather-beaten 35-year-old professional wrestler. WSOF’s bombastic vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz, too, boarded the CM Punk hype train.

A whole lot of hype for something we knew for years already. In December 2012, Punk admitted that he’d tangle with the Green Ranger in an MMA fight if the opportunity arose. Earlier that year the former WWE superstar discussed potentially entering the MMA landscape.

Where was the egregious amount of hype then?

MMA didn’t need it quite as much when CM Punk first announced that an MMA fight was on his bucket list. There’s just not a whole lot of interest in the day-to-day affairs of MMA like there was in the past. Look at the numbers for the most recent TUF season—they’re horrific. Fans don’t care about low/mid-level UFC fighters and even some high level UFC fighters. We live in an era where one of the only ways to draw big interest (and big traffic) is to tease Brock Lesnar’s UFC return for the umpteenth time. GSP is gone and Zuffa is apparently going to bury him sooner rather than later. Rousey can always generate buzz, but Hollywood is poaching that cash cow. Talking grand about CM Punk fighting for real is one of the only ways to brighten the drudgery of “Two C-level guys got added to some UFC fight pass card in who cares where. Please donate your click” articles.

And regarding Punk’s actual future in MMA, he doesn’t have one. He’s a 35-year-old ex-pro wrestler with no combat sports experience (he’s trained, yes, but hasn’t competed). At best, he’ll participate in a handful of fights that get lots of hype and then retire from competition after fulfilling yet another goal in life while MMA media members roast him, a novice MMA fighter, for looking like a novice MMA fighter.

Damn, ‘Batista’ Really Thinks He’s a Valuable Training Partner

(Video courtesy of MyFoxTAMPABAY)

It’s too bad we didn’t notice this charity auction item until after bidding on it ended, because we know a few of you may have been interested.

WWE wrestler-turned MMA hopeful Dave Bautista (AKA “Batista”) was offering a one-hour training session with him and a Cesar Gracie black belt (please let it be Nick Diaz) at his newly-opened gym in Tampa Bay and a follow-up lunch as part of a charity auction for Ovarian cancer. Now, I’m not sure if our valuation skills are a bit skewed, but we’re guessing that the deal isn’t quite worth the $2,500 they estimated — especially when the winning bidder had to provide his or her own airfare and accommodations for the lesson.


(Video courtesy of MyFoxTAMPABAY)

It’s too bad we didn’t notice this charity auction item until after bidding on it ended, because we know a few of you may have been interested.

WWE wrestler-turned MMA hopeful Dave Bautista (AKA “Batista”) was offering a one-hour training session with him and a Cesar Gracie black belt (please let it be Nick Diaz) at his newly-opened gym in Tampa Bay and a follow-up lunch as part of a charity auction for Ovarian cancer. Now, I’m not sure if our valuation skills are a bit skewed, but we’re guessing that the deal isn’t quite worth the $2,500 they estimated — especially when the winning bidder had to provide his or her own airfare and accommodations for the lesson.

A one-hour private with Royce or Renzo Gracie or Loyd Irvin doesn’t even cost that much, but then again you don’t get to watch any of those guys eat afterwards, so maybe it is worth it.

 

Former WWE Star Batista Says Long-Rumored Strikeforce Deal Is Dead

A long-rumored deal that would bring former professional wrestling star Dave Batista to mixed martial arts under the Strikeforce banner is now dead.

The 42-year-old, whose real last name is Bautista, quit wrestling in mid-2010 and shortly afterward s…

A long-rumored deal that would bring former professional wrestling star Dave Batista to mixed martial arts under the Strikeforce banner is now dead.

The 42-year-old, whose real last name is Bautista, quit wrestling in mid-2010 and shortly afterward said he was interested in transitioning into MMA. After months of ongoing negotiations though, Batista told TMZ that talks with Strikeforce came to a close shortly after UFC parent company Zuffa bought Strikeforce.

Cesar Gracie on Nick Diaz-Mayhem Miller, Greg Jackson and Batista

Filed under: Strikeforce, News

Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz is about 10 days from his title defense against Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. If most fans had their way, Diaz would be fighting Jason “Mayhem” Miller that night.

The rivalry b…

Filed under: ,

Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz is about 10 days from his title defense against Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. If most fans had their way, Diaz would be fighting Jason “Mayhem” Miller that night.

The rivalry between Diaz and Miller exploded last April, when the two were among the participants in a post-fight brawl following Jake Shields’ championship win over Dan Henderson.

On Wednesday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Diaz’s manager and trainer Cesar Gracie explained why the matchup has yet to happen.

Titles on the Line, But No Hard Feelings at Strikeforce: Houston Press Conference

Filed under: StrikeforceHOUSTON – If today’s Strikeforce: Houston pre-fight press conference had a theme, that theme was ‘respect.’ It made for a calm, congenial, and somewhat boring atmosphere, but perhaps that’s just what happens when all eight fight…

Filed under:

HOUSTON – If today’s Strikeforce: Houston pre-fight press conference had a theme, that theme was ‘respect.’ It made for a calm, congenial, and somewhat boring atmosphere, but perhaps that’s just what happens when all eight fighters on the televised portion of the card like one another too much.

Even defending Strikeforce light heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal, who usually likes some trash talk to go along with his pre-fight press obligations, explained that he just couldn’t work up the same animosity toward new challenger Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante that he had for Gegard Mousasi in his last fight.

“I respect Feijao,” said Lawal. “We’ve trained with some of the same people. He’s never questioned my character like Mousasi did. Mousasi was quick to go on record saying that I’m full of myself and I’m this and I’m that. Me and Feijao, we don’t need to do that. We’ll do that Saturday. We’ll fight Saturday and have fun.”

Bobby Lashley: I’d Like to Earn a Heavyweight Title Shot in Early 2011

Filed under: Strikeforce, NewsVoicing a belief that he’s turned the corner in his MMA career, Bobby Lashley says he expects to be in the Strikeforce heavyweight title picture by early 2011.

The 5-0 fighter, who is scheduled to face Chad Griggs at Aug….

Filed under: ,

Voicing a belief that he’s turned the corner in his MMA career, Bobby Lashley says he expects to be in the Strikeforce heavyweight title picture by early 2011.

The 5-0 fighter, who is scheduled to face Chad Griggs at Aug. 21’s Strikeforce: Houston show, has spent time in recent months training at the San Jose, Calif., American Kickboxing Academy, and said he’s come away bolstered from his sessions with top UFC contender Cain Velasquez along with fellow Strikeforce standout Daniel Cormier.

“Before, I didn’t know where my level was, but I’ve been training with different people, I’ve got different people coming in and different camps that I’m going to. Of late I trained with Cain, regarded as one of the best heavyweights right now, and Cormier and some other heavyweights. My level is really high. I’m really confident of where it is. After this fight, if it goes where I hope it goes, I’m going straight to the top. I know where my abilities are.”