Bobby Lashley Names WWE Wrestlers Who Could Succeed in MMA

Bobby Lashley built up an impressive 15-2 record during his mixed martial arts career while he was away from the WWE. Now that he's back, he's got a pretty good impression of who could make the jump from the squared circle to the octagon.

Lashley conducted an interview with a Boston sports radio station this week.

"Of course if you have an athletic background, but most of the guys you'll find in MMA right now don't necessarily have a wrestling background or boxing or anything like that they've just picked it up and have been training for years," he said.

Lashley initially named Chad Gable, a former collegiate and Olympic wrestler as well as Akam and Rezar from the Authors of Pain tag team.

"But if you're talking about somebody who could just hop right over and do it? You have Chad Gable who is an Olympian," he said. "I believe he can go in with any work ethic, the guy's an animal in the ring working out. Authors Of Pain, both of those guys. One guy's a Kickboxing World Champion and one guy's a multiple-time wrestling champion and I know one of them fought in Bellator for a while so he could possibly do it."

Akam (real name Sunny Dhinsa) won the Canadian national freestyle wrestling heavyweight championship in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Rezar (Gzim Selmani) fought professionally eight times in his MMA career, competing once for the Bellator promotion in 2014 and finishing with a 6-2 record.

Lashley then went on to name Seth Rollins, Shelton Benjamin and Samoa Joe as three other potential fighters. Prior to his wrestling career, Joe trained in judo and was the State Junior Judo Champion while in high school in California.

"I think Samoa Joe would definitely be able to do it," Lashley said. "Samoa Joe is great at kickboxing, he's super aggressive — he's tough. Shelton Benjamin, I think there's a handful of guys who could possibly do it."

Lashley initially left WWE in 2008 to pursue his fighting career and worked in various independent wrestling promotions, most notably Impact Wrestling. He returned to the WWE on the night after WrestleMania 34 in April and eventually began a program with Sami Zayn. After defeating Zayn in quick fashion at Money in the Bank, Lashley moved on to his world championship aspirations.

He's set to face Roman Reigns at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on July 15 in Pittsburgh, with the winner likely facing Brock Lesnar the next time he defends the Universal Championship.