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While the worlds of the UFC and WWE are far apart in many ways, the two promotions also have plenty in common, with a number of various crossovers being highly memorable over the years.
One form of crossover that we’ve seen on multiple occasions is when UFC fighters decide to use a theme song borrowed from a WWE superstar to walk to the octagon to.
Naturally, whenever this happens, the fans in attendance tend to go wild. After all, there are plenty of them who follow both promotions equally closely, even if they’re not exactly the same.
With that in mind, here are five times that UFC fighters borrowed theme songs from WWE superstars.
#5. Israel Adesanya – Used The Undertaker’s theme at UFC 276
The most recent entry on this list came this weekend at UFC 276, as middleweight champion Israel Adesanya decided to use arguably the most iconic theme song in WWE history to walk to the octagon for his title defense against Jared Cannonier.
Not only did ‘The Last Stylebender’ have the legendary funeral march of The Undertaker playing over the speakers, but he even decided to borrow part of the WWE Hall of Famer’s gimmick, too. He sported the wide-brimmed hat made famous by ‘The Dead Man’, as well as an urn with Cannonier’s name written on it.
This entrance was not the first time that Adesanya had shown his love for WWE, as he famously demonstrated a number of the pro-wrestling promotion’s most famous finishing moves during an open workout prior to his 2019 fight with Anderson Silva.
However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ had never based his octagon walkout on anything from WWE before, although it made sense for him to do so at this event given WWE personalities such as Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were present in the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena.
At any rate, given that his fight with Cannonier was not well-received by fans despite it being a clear-cut win, it’s highly likely that fans will probably remember Adesanya’s unique entrance more than his bout this weekend itself.
#4. Bobby Green – Used Gangrel’s theme at UFC Fight Night 57
Modern-day WWE fans might not even recognize the name of Gangrel. After all, his run with the promotion as a vampire-based character lasted just over a year, even if it came at the peak of the ‘Attitude Era’ between 1998 and 1999.
However, older fans tend to remember Gangrel for a single reason: his wild theme tune, complete with its instantly recognizable drum beat. Evidently, current UFC lightweight contender Bobby Green recalled this theme, as he decided to borrow it for his fight with Edson Barboza in 2014.
Unlike Gangrel, who would sip ‘blood’ from a chalice on his way to the ring before spewing it into the audience, Green’s entrance was relatively pedestrian, with ‘King’ simply nodding his head to the infectious beat.
Unfortunately, it didn’t serve him well in the fight. Green simply didn’t bring his ‘A’ game against Barboza, who largely picked him apart with his kicks en route to a unanimous decision win. Still, his entrance was undoubtedly one of the high points of his octagon career, even if he hasn’t used the theme song since.
#3. Jake Matthews – used Triple H’s theme at UFC 243
Given that it’s one of the most iconic theme songs in WWE history, it always seemed like just a matter of time before one of the UFC’s fighters procured Triple H’s famous ‘The Game’ song, performed by legendary rockers Motorhead.
Sure enough, it took longer than expected, but a fighter finally took the plunge in 2019, when Australian welterweight Jake Matthews decided to use the theme for his bout with Rostem Akman at UFC 243.
Unsurprisingly, the crowd in attendance in Melbourne went wild for ‘The Celtic Kid’, who went on to impress by outpointing Akman over three rounds.
Unsurprisingly, Triple H himself seemed as impressed by Matthews’ performance as the fans were. He took to Twitter to praise him, stating “that’s how you play the game.”
Interestingly, though, a later interview with Matthews seemed to suggest that he may not have been as inspired by WWE as was initially thought. The Australian revealed that it was his love of Motorhead, rather than pro-wrestling or Triple H, that made him decide to use the song.
#2. Ion Cutelaba – Used Bret Hart’s theme at UFC on Fox 30
In the world of WWE, one name is more synonymous with Calgary, Alberta, Canada than any other: five-time WWE champion and Hall of Famer Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart.
Therefore, when the UFC visited Calgary’s Saddledome in the summer of 2018, it was hardly surprising to see one of the fighters in action borrow Hart’s famous theme song for their walkout. The only surprise, in fact, was which fighter chose to do so.
The event featured a number of Canadian fighters in action, from Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Jordan Mein to Kajan Johnson and Randa Markos. However, the fighter who channelled his inner ‘Hitman’ actually turned out to be Ion Cutelaba, who hails from Moldova.
Not only did Cutelaba use Hart’s theme music, he also walked out sporting a pair of the iconic pink sunglasses once worn by the Canadian superstar throughout his pro-wrestling career.
Unsurprisingly, the theme music turned Cutelaba into an instant hero with the Calgary fans, and they were quick to cheer for him as he stopped opponent Ghadzimurad Antigulov in the first round of their light heavyweight clash.
Despite the success of ‘The Hulk’ when using this iconic theme song, though, no UFC fighter has done so since, despite the promotion returning to Canada on a number of occasions since.
#1. Colby Covington – Used Kurt Angle’s theme at UFC on ESPN 5
While it was initially used by a number of WWE superstars, including The Patriot and Sergeant Slaughter, the theme song known as ‘Medal’ is recognized by practically anyone who’s watched pro-wrestling as belonging to Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle.
At his peak, Angle was considered one of pro-wrestling’s ultimate villains, but eventually, his character became one that fans essentially loved to hate. Even his theme song became part of this, with fans chanting “you suck!” along to the tune.
It came as no surprise, then, when the UFC fighter who decided to procure Angle’s theme song for himself was welterweight contender Colby Covington.
A trash-talking extraordinaire, ‘Chaos’ had built himself up as one of the UFC’s ultimate villains. When he walked out to Angle’s theme song for his 2019 clash with Robbie Lawler, the reaction from the fans was both predictable – and brilliant to watch.
Unsurprisingly, they used the same “you suck!” chants towards Covington that they’d done during Angle’s entrances for years. However, the reaction didn’t stop the welterweight’s momentum, as he comfortably outpointed Lawler over five rounds.
Since then, Covington has continued to use the theme song for his walkouts, although as of the time of writing, it seems unlikely that he’ll ever become as beloved as Angle eventually did during his WWE tenure.
