AEW star Bobby Lashley appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, where he talked about a number of topics including never signing with the UFC for MMA.
Lashley said, “At the beginning, when I first started fighting, I think there were little talks with it. They said, ‘Yeah, we’ll give him an opportunity, but he needs to work his way up.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ It was a decision I had to make. One, I could fight for some other organizations that were offering more money. I always thought, if the situation changes in WWE, I thought that was my calling and where I really deserved to be. I just needed time away because of the situation and things going on. I was like, ‘Here is an opportunity for me to keep it open and then go back.’ I didn’t want to lock in a contract with them because I would have to shut off wrestling.”
On if he ever had discussions with UFC later on:
“Yes, but when I did that I was with TNA and I was like, ‘I don’t want to give up pro wrestling.’ That was the biggest thing. I didn’t want to give up pro wrestling. When I talked to Bellator they were like, ‘We’ll let you pro wrestle.’ Done.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
