Professional wrestling (Mixed Martial Arts) and movies, especially the action/adventure ones do share some interesting similarities just with different sets. To succeed inside the octagon wrestlers need to be muscular and charismatic. So, it should come as no surprise that there are multifaceted talents along them who also starred in Hollywood movies. In this article, we have rounded up a list of six incredible UFC & MMA fighters who have gone from wrestling to acting and turned into successful acting careers.
Randy Couture
Couture’s line of work speaks for itself: a former UFC champion, a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, and an actor who starred in more than 25 films! Couture has proved his talent in the Octagon by holding both the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and the UFC Heavyweight Championship. His film debut was the minor role in the “Fighter #8” in 2003. His first noticeable role, after which his acting career took off, was the role of Toll Road in “The Expendables” in 2010. Couture appeared in many films before he retired from MMA in 2011 including “The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior”, “Ambushed”, “Hijacked”, “Setup”, and “The Hard Way”.
Dave Bautista
Best known to the fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Drax The Destroyer, Dave Bautista proved himself to be an outstanding MMA star before. Dave Batista has won the WWE World Championship 6 times and has been the WWE World Tag Team Champion three times. His retirement in 2019 let him devote himself to his acting career. His role in” Heist” can be very interesting for people with a passion for gambling, who like to play new real money slots online. Other notable titles Dave are “Riddick”, “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Stuber”, “Hotel Artemis”, “My Spy”, “Thor: Love and Thunder”, and “Dune”.
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne” The Rock” Johnson is a 10-time world champion in wrestling and one of the highest-paid actors in the world. Dwayne began his acting career with his role as Mathayus, the Scorpion King of the Mummy franchise first in the episode “The Mummy Returns” and later in a standalone movie. Then he starred in many big-budget action/adventure movies like “Doom”, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, “Hercules”, “Fast & Furious 6”, “Furious 7”, “San Andreas”, and “Black Adam”.
John Cena
A wrestler with a shining wrestling career, Cena won over 15 (!) world WWE championships. A WWE superstar, charismatic Cena was the real Superman of the wrestling ring. And his acting career also turned out to be incredibly successful. Cena’s acting debut was the role in the action film “The Marine” in 2006. Today he is best known for the roles in “Bumblebee”, “Fast & Furious 9: The Fast Saga”, “Trainwreck”, and “Blockers”.
Gina Carano
A pioneering female MMA fighter, Carano made it big in both wrestling and acting careers. Her only MMA loss was the 2009 fight with Cristiane Justin, after which she retired from wrestling. Debuting in 2011 in the lead role in “Haywire”, she quickly became the star of many box office action movies. Gina starred in “Deadpool”, “Daughter of the Wolf”, “Fast and Furious 6”, “Extraction”, and “Kickboxer: Vengeance”. She also played Cara Dune in the TV series “The Mandalorian”.
Georges St-Pierre
The UFC Welterweight Championship and The UFC Middleweight Championship weren’t the only wins of this Canadian UFC fighter and wrestler. The Canadian UFC champion made his screen debut when he made cameo appearances in “Death Warrior,” “Never Surrender,” and the “Hell’s Chain” movies. After he retired from wrestling he starred in the movie “Kickboxer” with Gina Carano and played the villain Georges Batroc in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”.
Some other MMA superstars who successfully made an entry into Hollywood are Hulk Hogan, Ronda Rousey, Tyron Woodley, Michael Bisping, Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell, Cung Le, Randy Savage, Jesse Ventura, and Steve Austin. Thanks for reading! Did we forget anybody? Let us know in the comments!