The Beast Gets Sapped by Bobby Lashley
Earlier tonight at the Ultimate Chaos PPV, former WWE Superstar Bobby Lashley (no relation to the Robert Lashley that writes for this site) defeated former New Japan and PRIDE/K-1 fighter Bob “The Beast” Sapp in a legitimate MMA contest in the main event of the broadcast.
I remember reading that Lashley wanted to keep the fight standing and to trade with Sapp, but it is obvious that he either had doubts about that strategy or worked us all as it took no time for the former wrestling champ to score a takedown in the opening moments of the fight. He then began to strike at Sapp with elbows and punches. Sapp attempted to defend but it was futile and tapped out due to strikes. Apparently Sapp had tapped out prior to then, but the referee did not see it. Sapp tapped and the fight was stopped at around 3:17 of round 1. As a result, Lashley’s MMA record rises to 4-0.
While Bob Sapp hasn’t been a force in Mixed Martial Arts for about half a decade, this is Lashley’s first defeat of somebody with name value. Is he ready for the UFC? Probably not yet, but I find it interesting that he is taking a different road than the OTHER WWE star to jump to MMA – Brock Lesnar. Brock wanted top flight competition from the onset and fought in the biggest MMA company in the world after just one fight, while Lashley is slowly earning wins and climbing up the ranks.
I wonder if this means Bobby goes back to TNA?
I think Lashley’s smart, and also, he is nearly as marketable as Lesnar, so there’s no rush by UFC. You can only have one first, and Brock Lesnar was a much bigger star than Lashley was.
I think it’s smart that Lashley is taking his time.