It was potentially a match made in heaven. For fans of crash TV, what could have been better than Dave Batista against Bobby Lashley in the Strikeforce cage? Two muscled up behemoths standing toe to toe and letting it all hang out. You could practically see wrestling fans' simultaneous erections from space, assuming of course that you had a sufficiently powerful telescope and the ability to see into their parents' basements.
Now MMA Payout's Jose Mendez, aka MMA Supremacy breaks the bad news on Twitter that Batista was just teasing us all along. He has no intention of doing MMA after all:
"I will not be doing MMA/Strikeforce any time soon. So you can see me in the future of the WWE."
Past 40 and having never fought anything tougher than bacne, Batista didn't likely have a long future in MMA one way or the other. He's the past. The real question? What's in the future for Bobby Lashley?
The former WWE star was once one of the most promising prospects in the heavyweight division. A legitimate Olympic contender, Lashley has a powerful wrestling base and has been learning the sport from some of the industry's best at American Top Team. Some even whispered Lashley would be the man to eventually dethrone Brock Lesnar. Then Chad Griggs came along to burst all those bubbles.
An overwhelming underdog, Griggs outlasted an exhausted Lashley to score his career's biggest win at Strikeforce Houston. Lashley told AOL's Ben Fowlkes that he's yearning for revenge:
"I already asked for a rematch, because when you have certain events like I did that sort of hindered me from being able to open up and fight, I've got to go back," Lashley said. "I'd hate for them to use that fight to boost somebody's career, saying, 'Okay, he beat Bobby,' because that wasn't really the case. If I didn't have these problems, and I'd been able to go out there and fight, I think it would have been a pretty quick win for me. But I just didn't have anything in me."
Griggs wants no part of Lashley in a rematch. After all, if he loses he's diminished his own crowning achievement. A quick loss in a return bout would lend a lot of credence to Lashley's illness claims. That leaves Lashley a fighter with no fight.
Strikeforce President Scott Coker is said to be considering moving Lashley back to the Strikeforce Challenger's cards. Is it possible that Bobby Lashley, once so vehemently criticized for the caliber of his competition, may actually need to take a step back before he can take a step forward?
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