By Rory Tulloch – Former pro-wrestler and undefeated MMA fighter Bobby Lashley (4-0) has cemented himself as one of MMA’s top heavyweight prospects after an impressive victory over K-1 and Pride veteran, Bob “The Beast” Sapp (10-5-1) on the headliner of Saturday’s “Ultimate Chaos” Pay-per-view. In a bout that was dubbed “Battle of the Giants”, Lashley picked up the win just 3:17 into the first round when he dominated “The Beast” taking him down to the ground early, before forcing him to submit after an onslaught of strikes.

Despite pre-fight talk between the two fighters hinting the fight was to be a stand up affair, Lashley, the former 3-time NAIA Champion, 2-time Armed Forces Champion and 2002 Military Games Championship Silver medallist used his wrestling skills to shoot for the takedown immediately and take Sapp out of his comfort zone.

“I just wanted to get him down. I had to go out there take him down, cover him up, keep him flat and pound on him. That was our game plan. You’ve got to wear the big man down. We’ve got other matches where we can test our stand-up.” said Lashley in a post-fight interview. A smart move from the up-and-comer, because as unskilled as “The Beast” may be, he has gained many impressive knockout victories, albeit against much smaller opponents, using his sheer size and brute strength. It would have been silly to try and stand toe-to-toe with an opponent as large and powerful as the 6’ 4”, 300+ lb Bob Sapp.

“Each match I’m getting better,” claimed Lashley, “You better look at me because I’m coming, I’m taking all challengers right now.” Despite the confident words and his popularity stemming from his days in the WWE, Lashley is being modest and looking to build his reputation and fight skills slowly before stepping up a level and competing in the likes of UFC and Affliction.

Lashley already plans to fight twice this year, the first of which will be in September for “Ultimate Chaos” co-promoter Fight Force International. This level of activeness and slow progression is somewhat the opposite approach of fellow former pro-wrestler turned MMA-fighter, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar became UFC Heavyweight champion despite his largely inexperienced record of only 3 wins and 1 defeat, and has yet to defend his title since November of last year. Given their similar sizes, pasts and resumes, a clash between the two seems inevitable.

Both fighters had an accomplished amateur wrestling career before signing for WWE, where both had short successful runs becoming two of the company’s biggest stars. Lesnar won the company’s top title and was dubbed “The Next Big Thing” before leaving to pursue a career in the NFL. Lashley’s career highlights included wrestling for billionaire Donald Trump as part of a storyline that culminated in Lashley and Trump shaving WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s head and winning the top title on WWE’s secondary “brand” ECW. This higher level of success and fame within the WWE could explain Lesnar’s ability to jump to the forefront of the UFC heavyweight division with ease.

That is not to say that Lashley is ready for Lesnar by any means. Lesnar, NCAA Champion back in 2000, would likely possess superior grappling abilities, is a naturally bigger athlete despite both their huge sizes and has shown immense power in bouts with the likes of seasoned competitor Heath Herring. By comparison, he beat UFC legend Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight championship in only his fourth fight whereas in Lashley’s fourth outing he has beaten Bob Sapp, a well known fighter but was ultimately coming off of a loss and has struggled to find success outside of Japan. The showdown looks likely to happen at some point down the line, provided Lashley continues improving his skills and ditches his plans to continue his pro-wrestling career.

Lashley has said he has been given a contract with the number 2 wrestling promotion in the United States, TNA Wrestling. It’s just a matter of signing the dotted line. The contract apparently allows him to make appearances for TNA part-time while continuing to train and pursue a fight career. UFC Promoter Dana White has often been sceptical of Lashley’s decision to get into MMA saying “just because Brock did it doesn’t mean everyone can do it”. Working for a wrestling promotion would probably kill any chance of him joining the UFC, at least in the near future. While White denied he would watch “Ultimate Chaos” and has shown little interest in Lashley as of yet, his recent signing of former EliteXC fighter Kimbo Slice for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter has shown that anything can happen so a Lashley-UFC debut would never be totally out of the question.

Let’s hope Lashley can leave the wrestling chapter of his life behind, because if he keeps chalking up victories like the one we saw on Saturday night he is one fighter that is going to be tough to ignore.