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Pro athletes who we'd love to see in MMA

Herschel Walker, former Heisman trophy winner and NFL player turned MMA fighter
We've seen multiple professional athletes make the transition to MMA, usually after their prime has passed in their sport of choice. Herschel Walker, Bob Sapp, even CM Punk could all be counted as pro athletes who made the jump.

Now, with the report that controversial former NFL defensive end will be making his amateur MMA debut soon, it brought the thought of what other current pro athletes we would love to see inside the octagon.

Rob Gronkowski

"Gronk" stands 6'6 and 265 lbs and an absolute freak of an athlete. He may be the greatest tight end to ever play professional football. With his physique and athletic ability, it seems that he'd be the perfect candidate for cage fighting with some training under his belt.

Gronk has already had involvement with the WWE so it's not exactly a stretch to think he could extend that into the world of MMA. And with his outgoing and fun personality, he'd be a fun watch in both the build-up and aftermath of fights as well.

Considering his current contract with the Patriots will have the tight end receiving $23.75 million over the next 3 seasons, a figure he couldn't even hope to approach in MMA, he'll probably be sticking to football.

JJ Watt

With mentioning Gronk, we have to talk about his defensive counterpart in the NFL, JJ Watt. 

Watt is a 6'5, 290 lbs and arguably one of the greatest defensive players to ever play in the NFL. Not just defensive lineman, defensive players period.

Watt also shows the work ethic and dedication that if he really applied himself to MMA then he could easily excel. The money issue also plays a role with Watt as it did with Gronk unfortunately. As well as the fact that Watt seems to eat, sleep and breathe football and pulling him away from the game would be difficult.

Hafpor Julius Bjornsson

Bjornsson is better known to most of the world as Gregor Clegane, The Mountain That Rides, from the HBO series Game of Thrones. He is also a strongman athlete, recently finishing in 2nd place in the 2017 World's Strongest Man Competition.

At 6'9, 400 lbs, Bjornsson is an imposing figure. Add in his almost inhuman strength and you can't help but wonder what the man could do if he was locked in a cage and told "beat your opponent".

The size of Bjornsson is enough to eliminate him from most MMA competitions at a professional level inside the United States, but abroad could still be a possibility. 

And it's not like we haven't seen strongmen turned MMA fighters before, just look at 5-time World's Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski. He currently has an MMA record of 11-5.


What athletes would you love to see mix it up inside of a cage?

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