Multi-sport athletes are something special. The most renowned are probably Bo Jackson, who played in the NFL and MLB, being named to the NFL's Pro Bowl and the MLB All-Star game in a single season, and Deion Sanders, who is one of the greatest defensive backs in the history of football but also played professional baseball. There are plenty more, but these are the most commonly looked to multi-sport athletes.

Plenty of pro wrestlers also competed in other sports, including Steve "Mongo" McMichael, Dwayne Johnson, Bill Goldberg and Larry "Lex Luger" Pfohl, all of whom played football (Dwayne Johnson's pro career was very short, just briefly playing for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League).

But every so often, fuel gets added to the fire of wrestling haters when a performer decides to head over to mixed martial arts. Looking on any forum on the internet you can find people spewing "wrestling is fake, he'll get destroyed" like it's going out of style. I don't need to sell this idea to wrestling fans, but choreographed and fake are two different things. We all know these guys and gals are getting thrown around, are feeling pain and, outside of the ring, are training as hard as any other category of pro athlete.

What helps many of these wrestlers get into MMA is prior experience training in a martial art (obviously, right?), and of course natural athletic capability. These are by no means automatic guarantors of success, but work instead as great building blocks. Here is a ranking of prominent wrestlers who started fighting in MMA. This ranking will be based on longevity in the sport, record, belts held (if any), and extent/mastery of martial arts training.

23 Honorable Mentions

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Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports

While we should point these guys out for being great competitors and entertainers, wrestlers who started out in MMA and then switched to wrestling and those whose careers in both sports started virtually simultaneously will not be featured here. So our honorable mentions include, but are not limited to fighters like Pride/Pancrase legend Ikuhisa Minowa (still fighting by the way), Daniel Puder, who won Tough Enough Season 4 but had fought in MMA a year before in 2003, Tank Abbott, who briefly wrestled in WCW around 2000, Don Frye, who took up wrestling in the late 1990s after winning UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 1996, and finally Josh Barnett, former UFC Heavyweight champion and current top ten contender, who wrestled on and off for the past decade.

22 22. Bam Bam Bigelow: 0-1

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via wikimedia.org

Scott Bigelow, who tragically died of a drug overdose when some substances, combined with prescription meds and a pre-existing heart problem did him in back in 2007, only fought once. While he was a dangerously massive dude, (flirting with 400 pounds at times throughout his two-decade career), Bigelow was a gifted athlete. His career started out in the late 1980s with Continental Wrestling Association and in the 199's he had some memorable periods with WWE, ECW and WCW.

His lone MMA fight took place back in 1996 at U-Japan. He was completely untrained, but was brought in as a well known name. He fought Taekwondo black belt Kimo Leopoldo (whose career includes wins over Tank Abbott and Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba), and was quickly dismantled, losing via rear naked choke after just over two minutes.

21 21. Ludvig Borga/Tony Halme: 0-4

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via sportsviews.com

Finnish Tony Halme, who wrestled for UWF, New Japan, and WWE in the early 90s should have been a solid prospect for mixed martial arts. He was an incredible athlete and briefly held the Finnish Heavyweight championship in boxing, but that was after both his wrestling and MMA careers. He fought four times and went 0-4. Three of his losses came in Japanese promotion RINGS, and his fourth came in his only UFC fight. He was the guy Randy Couture choked out in a minute for his UFC debut back in 1997.

Halme went on not only to hold the Finnish Heavyweight boxing belt, but also got himself elected to office in Finnish Parliament. His physical and mental health started to deteriorate after age 40 however, leading him to shoot and kill himself at age 47 back in 2010.

20 20. Kid Kash: 0-2

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via themmareport.com

We should offer up a disclaimer here: there are rumors that Kid Kash participated in some very early (pre-UFC), mixed martial arts style promotions, but we have been unable to find any reliable sources to back up his experience in unsanctioned bouts, so we can't really include those here. His wrestling career spanned over two decades and included memorable stints with ECW, TNA and WWE, where he held the WWE Cruiserweight Champinoship. He had some boxing experience in his youth and has fought in one official mixed martial arts fight.

He fought Lindsey Jones in early November 2016 at Valor Fights 38 in Nashville. This was Jones' first official fight as well, after going 3-1 in amateur matches. David "Kid Kash" Cash lasted just 39 seconds, getting thoroughly knocked out.

19 19. Taka Michinoku: 0-1

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via wwe.com

The first of a few Japanese wrestlers we'll talk about here, Taka Michinoku (Takao Yoshida) has been wrestling for over two decades (since the early 90s), and has competed in both Japan and North America, including ECW in the late 90s, WWE in the late 90s and early 2000s, and more recently in All-Japan and currently New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He's won more championships in various promotions than one cares to count, but his brief foray into mixed martial arts was nothing to brag about. We'll give him this, he lasted more than seven minutes. He fought Keiichiro Yamamiya at Pancrase: Alive 4 back in 1997. Yamamiya finished Michinoku via keylock. If you don't remember this name, it's because Yamamiya only fought once in the UFC and just once outside of Japan, and it was in Finland, not the U.S. Michinoku has not fought in an MMA bout since his debut.

18 18. Nick Mitchell: 0-1

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via vimeoinfo.com

Over a month ago, the WWE saw the return of a decent joke tag team known as The Spirit Squad. These wrestlers all started out in Ohio Valley Wrestling and became a tag team on the main roster of WWE in 2006. Consisting of Mitch (Nick Mitchell), Nicky (now Dolph Ziggler), Kenny (Kenny Dykstra), Mikey (Mike Mondo) and Johnny (John Jeter), only Nicky has gone on to have a notable wrestling career.

Nick "Mitch" Mitchell took up fighting briefly after his wrestling career was over. He's mostly known for his time with The Spirit Squad, his participation in Tough Enough and dating Torrie Wilson for a while. But back to the fighting; he trained under Texan fighter Rocky Long (nothing special, fought and lost once in Strikeforce, has had minimal some success in small promotions) prior to his single professional fight at Worldwide Gladiator in 2010. He took on Derrick "The Black Beast" Lewis, who we currently know from his current four-fight UFC win streak, which includes victories over Roy Nelson and former UFC Heavyweight challenger Gabriel Gonzaga.

This was Lewis' professional debut and he ended Nick Mitchell via TKO in the second round.

17 17. CM Punk: 0-1

 John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

In one of the most anticipated events in MMA this year, Phil Brooks entered the octagon against Mickey Gall. Mickey Gall is an impressive wrestler whose two professional wins before facing Punk ended in first round rear-naked choke victories. Back at UFC 203, it was more of the same from Gall, who finished CM Punk in just over two minutes.

Like a few others we'll see on this list, the book has yet to be written on the career of CM Punk in MMA. He had one fight and his loss was one-sided, but he sounds eager to get back in the octagon. He has the work ethic and drive to train as one needs to for mixed martial arts, but he's not getting any younger (recently having turned 38) in a sport where hungry youngsters join the professional ranks all the time, looking for big fights to make names for themselves. One can imagine that his best bet is to hope his next scrap is against a less diligent UFC newcomer and possibly one against whom he can actually do anything.

16 16. Rodney "Mack" Begnaud 1-1

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via ebay.com

Having trained with the military in his late teens and into his early 20s, it is safe to say Rodney Begnaud likely had some real-life hand-to-hand skills before he became a wrestler. He trained with the Junkyard Dog back in the late 1990s and started working for ECW in 2000. He worked for the WWE on and off throughout the 2000s and still remains an active face in smaller promotions to this day.

In 2008, he tried his hand at MMA, fighting in USA MMA - LaFayette vs the World in Louisiana. He was essentially spoonfed a victory and fought a guy named Joe Nameth (not the retired NFL quarterback). Begnaud landed a few solid punches early and finished his opponent in just over 20 seconds. He fought one more time in 2008, and it was for Gladiator Promotions: Summer Knockouts. He was submitted via rear-naked choke by Andrew Staples. This was both fighters' last bout.

15 15. Mike "Bart Gunn" Polchlopek: 1-1

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via profightdb.com

Mike Polchlopek wrestled as one of The Smoking Gunns in WWE, as Bart Gunn, whose brother (kayfabe) Billy Gunn (Monty Kip Sopp) made up the other half of the duo. They were a dominant force among WWE tag teams in the mid 90s and held the tag belts three times. Later in his career, he worked for TNA and in Japan. He retired in 2004 and then took up MMA.

His only two professional fights saw him stepping up against significant fighters. He beat Judo brown belt and former UFC fighter Wesley Correia in 2006 (Correia's UFC career included a win over Tank Abbott), but lost to Pancrase icon Ikuhisa Minowa in November of 2006 at Pride - Bushido 13.

14 14. Paulo Cesar "Giant" da Silva: 2-6

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via thetallestman.com

Brazilian seven-footer (7'2" to be exact) Giant Silva was a basketball player originally and played not only professionally, but also for Brazil's national team. He started wrestling in the mid 90s and made his official debut in 1997 for WWE. He was released in 1999 and found work with New Japan in 2001.

Two years later, he started working with Pride. In his younger years, he trained at Gracie Jiu Jitsu, but had been out of practice for a long time. He fought in that promotion seven times, while also fighting for K-1 once, losing six fights and winning two. Interestingly (but not surprisingly, because who actually thought these guys could actually compete in MMA?) both of those wins came against sumo wrestlers.

13 13. Dave Bautista: 1-0

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via youtube.com

Where the heck do we start with Dave Bautista? Batista has held WWE championship belts a total of ten times, including a World Title six times, so there's that. He's moved on to movies and has had some memorable performances since his acting debut in 2006, including playing Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy (and the upcoming sequel). He's a former body builder and while little of this will be new information to his fans, he holds a purple belt in BJJ practicing under Cesar Gracie.

While Bautista was originally going to fight in Strikeforce, the company was sold to Zuffa (UFC) and he never got the chance. He finally made it into a cage in Rhode Island, at Classic Entertainment and Sports (CES) MMA in 2012. He faced Roy Nelson body double Vince Lucero. Lucero was able to land some punches early on and dominate for much of the first round, but Bautista took the fight to the ground, took his back and finished the fight off with some brutal ground and pound. He hasn't bothered fighting since. Bautista, like a few others on this list, might have been higher if he had kept with fighting.

12 12. Sylvester Terkay: 3-1

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via sherdog.com

While he isn't technically retired (not formally, anyway), there is no indication that the wrestling world will be hearing from Sylvester Terkay any time soon. He was only on WWE's main roster for a couple of years and spent a couple of years in Japan and some smaller promotions before leaving the sport. He's been in some movies since and has appeared on a few sitcoms.

Prior to ever becoming involved with wrestling, however, he was trained in amateur wrestling and had some experience boxing. His move to MMA was therefore somewhat natural and it started after he was released from developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, in 2003. He fought in two kickboxing events for K-1, losing both. He had more success in K-1 MMA. His first fight against Mauricio da Silva was won in just 13 seconds, thanks to some brilliant punching. His second bout was a loss to UFC and Pride veteran Gary Goodridge. The last two of his four fights were victories, finishing Kristof Midoux via neck crank in late 2004 and then Mu Bae Choi via unanimous decision in late 2005. It was his last fight.

11 11. Sean O'Haire: 4-2

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via sherdog.com

Another tragic story of a wrestler whose demons got the better of him, Sean O'Haire, who held the WCW Tag Team Championship a total of three times, killed himself back in September 2014. He had fallen into alcoholism and suffered from depression during his final years.

His wrestling career was entertaining and of course spider-infested, and along with his time in WCW, included stints in WWE and New Japan. While he was with New Japan Pro Wrestling, he got into MMA and kickboxing, fighting for K-1 in kickboxing, much like Sylvester Terkay, and a number of promotions, including Pride and K-1 for MMA.

He went 0-4 in kickboxing, getting knocked out all four times. He saw more success in MMA, winning his first two bouts by submission and TKO respectively. That TKO came over Shungo Oyama, who holds wins over two members of the Gracie family and former UFC champ Carlos Newton. O'Haire lost his next two fights; getting choked out by Kim Min-Soo (the first guy Brock Lesnar defeated in MMA competition) and being on the receiving end of a TKO from the hands of Eric Esch, who is better known as Butterbean.

O'Haire won his last two MMA fights by first round KOs at smaller promotions against a couple of no-namers.

10 10. Bob Sapp: 11-19-1

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via amazonaws.com

While a two-sport athlete is a rare and impressive thing, Bob Sapp is a three sport kind of guy, having competed briefly in the NFL, a couple of Asian wrestling promotions and, of course, a slew of mixed martial arts promotions. As a fighter, he isn't great, but promoters know he brings a huge crowd and usually puts on a good show, even in a losing effort, which makes them keep hiring him.

Playing guard for the University of Washington, Sapp won the Morris Award; a PAC-12 annual trophy awarded to linemen as selected by their opposition. Just to clear up any potential confusion, Bob Sapp has no relation to Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp. He wasn't able to secure a starting spot on either the Chicago Bears or Minnesota Vikings after being drafted in 1997 and ultimately gave up on his football dream after a steroid suspension. He started wrestling in 2001.

His MMA career started a year later and he had a great run in K-1, and won a Grand Prix in 2005. After that big win however, he went on a ten fight losing skid, and is now 2-13 in his last fifteen fights. He has tried to retire a couple of times, but keeps coming back, most recently with Rizin, beating sumo wrestler Akebono Taro in a shoot boxing rules fight.

9 9. Alberto Del Rio: 9-5

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via scrapdigest.com

Although he was recently released after some drama with WWE, it is hard to feel bad for Jose Alberto Rodriguez. Why can't we feel for a guy in such a position? He's engaged to one of WWE's hottest divas, Paige. Everything else could fall apart, but if you've found yourself a woman like that, things can't be too bad.

He practiced Greco-Roman wrestling in his youth and was named to the Mexican national team. Around 2000, he started working with some Mexican promotions and then in Japan, before making his WWE debut in the late 2000s.

Shortly after he started to wrestle, he took up MMA and between 2001 and 2010, he went 9-5, fighting primarily in Japanese and Latin American promotions. Fighting in Japan, with DEEP and Pride, he went 3-4, handily beating three relatively small name fighters, but coming up short against more reputable ones such as Kazuhiro Nakamura and Mirko Cro Cop. Between 2007 and early 2010, he had a six-fight win streak going in Mexican/Honduran promotions, winning five by submission (mostly chokes) and one with a great head kick. His last fight, in late February 2010, was a knockout loss and he hasn't fought since.

8 8. Naoya Ogawa: 7-2

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via filmofilia.com

Saying that Naoya Ogawa was a professional wrestler prior to his mixed martial arts career is basically a technicality, as his two debuts were mere months apart. He started wrestling for New Japan in April 1997 and had his first scrap at Red Devil Free Fight 1 in Holland on September 27 of that year. He'd go on to wrestle for over seven years, winning the NWA Tag Team Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship as well.

His move to MMA, like quite a few on this list, was barely an issue, as he was already a world champion judoka, having won four world championships in the late 80s and early 90s, not to mention an Olympic silver medal.

He went 7-0 in his first seven fights, working for Universal Fighting-Arts Organization and Pride. The only name he beat in those bouts worth mentioning to MMA fans is Gary Goodridge. After his win streak the competition got tougher and his last two fights, against Fedor Emelianenko and Hidehiko Yoshida (two all-time greats), ended in first round submissions.

7 7. Bobby Lashley: 15-2

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via mmafighting.com

After wrestling in college, winning a few national college championships, and wrestling while in the armed forces, Bobby Lashley joined pro wrestling after an injury caused a major hiccup to his Olympic dreams. He was trained at Ohio Valley and made his WWE debut in 2005. He's since held belts for ECW and the United States Championship in WWE, and has held five different titles while in TNA, where he has been on and off since 2009.

His mixed martial arts career started off great, with five wins between 2008 and early 2010, including wins over UFC vet Wes Sims and Bob Sapp. He fought twice for Strikeforce, but left for some smaller promotions after that promotion was bought out by UFC. In 2014, he signed with Bellator and is currently riding a very impressive five fight streak.

6 6. Minoru Suzuki: 29-19

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Now 48 years old, Minoru Suzuki started out in amateur wrestling in his youth, joined the ranks of NJPW in the late 1980s and worked for the Universal Wrestling Federation during that time as well. In 1993, he was one of the men involved with founding Pancrase. His first seven fights ended in victory, including a win over Ken Shamrock. His first professional loss was against Bas Rutten and nobody can really hold that against him. His wrestling was always a strong point to his game, but Suzuki always suffered against elite strikers.

His second win over Ken Shamrock won him the King of Pancrase title in 1995, which he would then lose later that year to Bas Rutten. He kept fighting in Pancrase until 2002, but left MMA with a record of 29-19 and returned to pro wrestling.

5 5. Brock Lesnar: 6-3

Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

It's hard to know where to place Lesnar on a list like this and we'll discuss why that is a bit later. He's a freak athlete and has been on an NFL roster, competed in NCAA wrestling, Pro Wrestling and MMA. The only sport he didn't conquer was football, but he was on the Vikings roster briefly and how many people can say that?

Lesnar has a 6-3 record in MMA and has been a UFC Heavyweight Champion. There are reasons to admire his time in the UFC and reasons to be skeptical of his place within MMA history. On one hand, he beat Randy Couture, Heath Herring, Shane Carwin, Mark Hunt and Frank Mir. Furthermore, he fought a couple of fights while suffering from the effects of diverticulitis; a bowel disease that causes severe abdominal pain.

On the other hand, he was given a title shot after one UFC win and while defeating Randy Couture is impressive, he glided past Cain Velasquez (who would brutalize him later), Junior Dos Santos, Gabriel Gonzaga, and a few others who could have given him a challenge. Was he spoon-fed the title? No. Was he spoon-fed Frank Mir twice (Mir is an incredible fighter, but that matchup is a tactical nightmare for Mir and Dana White knew it)? Yes and he failed to capitalize once. What about Mark Hunt? We all knew why he was given Hunt. Hunt can't wrestle and has comparatively poor cardio. Hunt was a gift from Dana White to a big draw for UFC 200.

Like I said, it's hard to decide where to put Lesnar in the UFC history books. If he had competed more regularly and for a longer period of time, he very well could have been in the talks for the title of G.O.A.T. Basically, he had some very desirable matchups and while he demonstrated some elite fighting, the brevity of his career is a major reason we didn't put him as the number one.

4 4. Masakatsu Funaki: 39-13-2

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via youtube.com

Now getting into his late 40s, Masakatsu Funaki started training for his professional wrestling career at age 15 and made his debut in the same year. Needless to say, he's a solid athlete and his martial arts instruction and experience went back to a young age. After just over eight years in pro wrestling (New Japan and UWF) he switched over to newly formed Pancrase in 1993.

His first fight ended with him being choked out by Ken Shamrock (arm triangle), but he followed it up with seven wins. Over the next two years he'd fight Ken Shamrock two more times, splitting these meetings 1-1, leaving him with two losses and a win against him. He tapped out Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock both with toe holds, and fought for King of Pancrase in September 1996, coming up short, getting knocked out by Rutten. He'd later be crowned the king of the promotion twice and retired for the first time in 2000 after a loss to Rickson Gracie. He'd return in 2007 to fight Kazushi Sakuraba; a fight which he lost.

To this day, Funaki is considered one of the all time greats of Japan's MMA community and this renown is well-earned. An incredible grappler and submission fighter, his career speaks for himself. He fought one more time in 2012, but has been wrestling exclusively since then.