Shayna Baszler weighs in on the rift between pro wrestling and MMA.
Shayna Baszler began her Mixed Martial Arts career in 2006 and it concluded in 2015 in UFC where she suffered a lost in her final fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC Fight Night 62. Months after closing the MMA chapter of her professional career Baszler transitioned into pro wrestling and after three years in the business total, and one year spent with WWE she became NXT Women's Champion. Baszler wrapped up her MMA career with a 26-15 record and has racked up quite the experience in her three years in pro wrestling.
The current NXT Women's Champion joined Dave LaGreca & Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio and was asked which sport from her experience in both fields is the most difficult and Shayna stated the following:
“I think pro wrestling is harder than MMA. The stresses are different. I think… and this might be different because I spent so long fighting, but standing behind the curtain to go out, whether you’re wrestling or fighting feels exactly the same to me." She explained. "The same anxiety to get in there, but that might just be…that’s always what I’ve known so it just feels the same but, the unknown in some respects are different in MMA. But I feel like… everybody wants to razz on [CM] Punk for crossing over to MMA. But I think having been deeply entrenched in the top levels of both worlds, that you will find more wrestlers [who] could crossover and be moderately successful, and I’m talking like… I’m not saying they’re going to come over and be main event UFC world leaders, but they will be moderately successful in MMA, than MMA fighters could crossover and find success in wrestling—there’s so much more that goes into it than just, ‘We’re playing around and pretending to [be] MMA’. Its not what it is at all.” She continued, “Your brain has to always be on and in an MMA fight, you train with your brain on all the time so you can shut it off during the fight and just do what needs to be done. But like in wrestling your brain always has to be on.”
Shayna Baszler also spoke on Ronda Rousey's in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 and discussed the feeling of winning the NXT Women's Championship. If you are going to use the quote above, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to Fightful.com for the transcription.
