#2 He’s popular with other fighters
Due to his fame and longevity in WWE, if Undertaker had decided to step into the world of MMA in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, there can be no doubt that he wouldn’t have had to look far for training partners.
During his run under the ‘American Badass’ gimmick, Undertaker was regularly seen in the crowd at UFC events, enjoying them and being recognised as one of the company’s celebrity fans.
While fighters such as Conor McGregor have thumbed their noses at WWE, other fighters such as Rampage Jackson and King Mo Lawal have always been willing to state their fandom of pro-wrestling and have often said how much it has influenced them in their careers.
A backstage clip from UFC 42 shows the Phenom – out of character, of course – chilling out with a victorious Team Miletich, following Matt Hughes’s successful title defence over Sean Sherk.
The team clearly like and respect the WWE legend and I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to think that he could’ve found a home there had he decided to pursue an MMA career. Matt Hughes even has Jeremy Horn demonstrate a flying armbar to the Dead Man.
While the Undertaker never did bust out a flying armbar in the WWE ring, he may have taken something else from Team Miletich, namely from one of their star fighters, Jens Pulver.
Pulver was the UFC Lightweight champion from 2001 to 2003 and his nickname? ‘Little Evil’. I don’t think it’s a stretch that shortly after, Undertaker became known as ‘Big Evil’, do you?
