Known for years as a competitor in the MMA scene, as well as being friends with Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler has spent the last couple of years switching from one sport to another.
Speaking to Argus Leader, Baszler talked about her transition from MMA to pro wrestling. While MMA was a job, professional wrestling seemed like a brand new experience she wanted to try out.
"I got to a point in my MMA career that I was just going to work" she said. "I kind of lost the spark for it. I love MMA. It’s what I studied for most of my adult life, but there comes a point I think when you’re just not as hungry anymore and it was starting to show up in my results."
In addition to the different style of training, Baszler also had to completely change how to respond to audience reactions as well.
"In MMA, you're trained to tune the audience out" she said. "In sports entertainment, you’re trained to feed off what the audience is thinking and feeling.There’s a lot more emphasis about making the crowd feel certain emotions about certain things."
Baszler made it to the finals of the Mae Young Classic last month before losing to Kairi Sane in the finals. She's currently training at the WWE Performance Center.
