Even though Bobby Lashley is in the midst of arguably his most impressive WWE run to date, he hasn’t given up on the idea of taking some more MMA fights — and even floated the idea of a UFC fight by Vince McMahon.
Lashley revealed both his desire to get back in the cage and the reason he put a bug in McMahon’s ear about the UFC in a recent interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.
“It’s still in me,” Lashley said. “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.”
You can watch Lashley’s full interview below.
The “stuff with the UFC” Lashley is referring to occurred on July 2, when WWE’s Money in the Bank event took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on the same night UFC 276 was happening nearby at T-Mobile Arena. Since WWE’s event ended first, a contingent of its personalities took in the UFC main event, and Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and announcer Pat McAfee were shown in the crowd on the broadcast.
Lashley has had a nice amount of success in his MMA career, compiling a 15-2 record with 12 stoppage victories (six by knockout, six by submission). He’s fought in a variety of promotions, including Strikeforce for two fights in 2010.
He’s yet to fight in UFC, and doing so might not be possible at the current time; even if UFC was interested, Lashley is reportedly still under contract to Bellator, where he’s had his most recent five MMA fights — all victories.
There’s also a question about whether his WWE contract would allow him to take time off to pursue MMA fights. When he was in charge of the company, Vince McMahon was generally loathe to permit those kinds of arrangements, though he made an exception for Brock Lesnar.
In any event, Lashley is pretty busy at the moment as the WWE United States Championship, and will likely have a title defense in Wales at Clash at the Castle on Sept. 3. It’s fun to know, however, that his MMA fire still burns, even at age 46.