5 times WWE superstars got involved with the UFC

#4 When Shane McMahon tried to buy the UFC

Shane McMahon

WWE chief Vince McMahon's son, Shane McMahon, who is also a minority owner and producer at the company, showed interest in purchasing the UFC way before it was a global phenomenon. According to longtime WWE employee Bruce Pritchard, Shane McMahon attempted to branch out of the generational family business of wrestling and invest in the up-and-coming mixed martial arts promotion.

However, Shane McMahon failed the takeover bid, even though it was quite reasonably priced.

In a January 2021 episode of Something to Wrestle With podcast, Bruce Pritchard revealed the details of why Shane McMahon did not end up being the new owner of the UFC. As it turned out, Vince McMahon was not prepared to pay what the then-owners, Semaphore Entertainment Group, were asking for.

"Bob Meyrowitz was putting UFC out there in wanting to sell and also looking at ways to change, and, what have you. So, I know that Shane was definitely interested in buying the UFC and during that time, we had meetings with Meyrowitz and Campbell McLaren. I think that, first of all, originally they weren't asking for a whole lot. They weren't asking for a lot, but it was more than Vince was willing to pay at the time, and the overhaul on the UFC that the Fertittas were able to pull off, and Dana White with the overhaul with the rules and the presentation and everything else, was the best thing that could have happened to them. I don't know that we as a company, could have overcome the stigma of WWE owning UFC and been able to make all the changes that UFC needed to make," Bruce Pritchard said.

Instead, the company was sold for $2 million to Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta instead, who put Dana White in charge as the president of the promotion. The rest, as they say, is history.

OTD in 2001, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers host their first UFC event after acquiring the company for $2M.Today, after Endeavor purchased the UFC for $4B in 2016, Dana White is worth more than $500M.Hate him or love him; that's legendary. pic.twitter.com/CYfzusKW0c

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) February 23, 2021

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#3 When The Undertaker stared down Brock Lesnar at UFC 121

WWE SummerSlam 2015

Four years before Brock Lesnar famously ended The Undertaker's 'Streak' in one of the most shocking moments in WrestleMania history, the two had a mysterious staredown at UFC 121.

Brock Lesnar, after just losing his UFC heavyweight belt to Cain Valesquez, walked out of the octagon while Mark Callaway, a.k.a. The Undertaker, was among the audience doing an interview with Ariel Helwani. Noticing Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker muttered the words: 'You wanna do it?'. The moment immediately went viral among fans of both the UFC UFC and WWE.

Mark Callaway finally opened up about the incident ten years later in yet another interview with Ariel Helwani, months before he made his final appearance inside the ring and let The Undertaker 'rest in peace'.

"My time has come to let The @undertaker rest ... in ... peace." #SurvivorSeries #FarewellTaker #Undertaker30 pic.twitter.com/Mg9xr8GB94

— WWE (@WWE) November 23, 2020

The Undertaker told Helwani that he was sent by the WWE to 'pick a fight' with Brock Lesnar, but he did not know that the UFC was unaware of what was going to happen.

"I was there to pick a fight. Yeah, I was sent there personally to pick a fight. I was unaware that (UFC president) Dana (White) had no clue what was gonna happen, which I felt horrible about after the fact. I thought there had been some kind of discussion between him and Vince (McMahon). At that time, Brock was so hot in the MMA world, so obviously, it’s like, ‘You know what? Why not try it.’ There was no personal animosity really, but it was basically me saying, ‘All right, you left our world, I’m gonna come into your world and I’m gonna call you out,’ and that was it," The Undertaker said.

Here's a portion of The Undertaker discussing his exchange with Brock Lesnar at UFC 121:#HelwaniShowFull Interview here:https://t.co/gWzjfPHCk4 pic.twitter.com/NyQZ2napvc

— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) May 13, 2020

He went on to jokingly blame Helwani for the 'huge media storm' that happened in the wake of the incident.