Bobby Lashley Asked Vince McMahon If He Could Compete In UFC This Year

Bobby Lashley opened up on his desire to have another cage fight and asking Vince about doing some stuff with the UFC. 

Lashley left WWE in 2008, and would go on to have a successful MMA career across Strikeforce, Bellator and other MMA companies. After returning to WWE in 2018, Lashley hasn’t competed in MMA, despite reaching a 15-2 record. During a recent interview with Fightful, Bobby Lashley was asked about his MMA career and if we have seen the last of him in that capacity. 

“It’s still in me. I’m just that guy. I was talking before because I know that we were doing stuff with the UFC. Vince and Stephanie and all them was sitting ringside and I was in the stands also. I’m texting Vince, ‘Can I get in there?’ He’s like, ‘come on.’ So I still have it in me. I love fighting. Before when I was fighting, it was kind of stay busy until I get back here, I just always knew I was gonna be back. So I was like, ‘Let me take some fights, stay active, continue doing what I enjoy,’ and it was something that kept me honest, you know? You can’t just fight and not train. So I had to keep consistent. I had to keep training, keep doing everything. I knew that I was gonna come back, but I did enjoy fighting.” 

Even though we haven’t seen him in the MMA cage, Lashley stayed active in training in the sport, in part of him opening up gyms of his own. Bobby spoke of the high level talent that he’s had come through and train with him. 

“I opened up a couple of gyms and those gyms, I have a couple of fighters that are fighting in the UFC right now, Youssef Zalal and I have a couple other guys that were in my gym before that are still fighting, too. Fighting’s in me. I either want to do a cage fight or do a bare knuckles fight.”

It’s not just world famous MMA fighters. Fightful asked Bobby about his training with Alex Huddleston, a Bellator veteran, who stands 6’6″, and has become an elite grappler. 

“Alex is one of my favorite people in this world. That guy is amazing. The cool thing about him is when we first started training, I went to Kansas City and I was training with him. Alex was knocking everybody else out. He’s a monster. He’s a jiu-jitsu guy. Before I came out there, I was wrestling him and I took him down. He was like, ‘Damn. I never felt a heavyweight like that before.’ So he moved out to Denver and he helped me out with my gym. He was training there and he went from knocking everybody out with kickboxing. He was like, ‘Man, I think it’s smarter to go on the ground.’ So he started doing jiu-jitsu and now he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu and probably one of the most intelligent minds in jiu-jitsu right now. He is phenomenal. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Even though Lashley has well-known amateur wrestling pedigree and an MMA background, that hasn’t prevented opponents in the ring from testing him. Lashley wouldn’t name names, but said that when someone gave it a go, he shrugged it off and no-sold the entire thing. 

“I had one person try to do something that was a sleight to me and afterwards I was like, ‘Hey, good match,’ and everything like that. I’d never give them the opportunity to think that they had something that over on me or got in my head. So it’s one of those things in our business where if they do it, you say, ‘Alright,’ smile and everything and then when you get in the ring again, you give them one back and say, ‘You remember last time? That’s what that was for.’ But I don’t think anybody’s really tested me because I’m not that guy. I’m pretty much not an asshole. I try to work with people as much as possible. If someone wants to take a cheap shot at me – yes, I will pay them back. But I’m not one to pick unnecessary fights.”

Lashley is the current WWE United States Champion on the Raw brand. 

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