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Outside of being an MMA fighter, Bobby Lashley is also an active professional wrestler with the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) promotion. Since debuting in TNA a few months back, Bobby Lashley has mainly feuded with Scott Steiner until his recent heel turn a few weeks ago. Bobby Lashley has stated in recent interviews that he will remain in TNA, despite having an active MMA career.
At the end of this month, Bobby Lashley is scheduled to make his Strikeforce debut against veteran fighter Jimmy Ambriz on the events televised card. Also, coinciding with the Strikeforce card is a TNA tour of the United Kingdom, which Bobby Lashley is scheduled to take part in. Which, if he does, means he will be wrestling all the way until the night before he is scheduled to debut for Strikeforce.
Now, the average MMA training camp usually takes one to three months to be properly completed and if Bobby Lashley remains on the aforementioned TNA tour, then he will have a two month, on and off training camp to prepare for the fight. This could be detrimental to Bobby Lashley, because he is taking on a well traveled MMA veteran, who will be entering the fight not being distracted by pro wrestling.
Lets also look at Bobby Lashley’s TNA/MMA relationship from another perspective, that perspective will be the potential of injuries. Allow me to use the upcoming TNA Genesis pay-per-view match between Bobby Lashley and Abyss as an example. Lets assume Bobby Lashley gets injured against Abyss this weekend, that could easily jeopardize his January 30th Strikeforce bout against Jimmy Ambriz.
Also, lets reverse the situation now and use the January 30th Strikeforce event as a starting point that leads to next month’s TNA booking plans. If Bobby Lashley were to suffer some form of injury against Jimmy Ambriz, that could throw a wrench into TNA’s future plans with the wrestler. That potential scenario could cost TNA money and have to force them to change their storylines for a few weeks or months.
Recently, Bobby Lashley has stated in interviews that if he were to leave Strikeforce once his contract is up and sign with the UFC, then he would leave TNA. This potential situation would become a certainty because UFC personality Dana White has stated that he will not have any fighter who is under contract be part of the professional wrestling world.
Lets us take this scenario and apply it to the UFC and lets also assume that Bobby Lashley is still under TNA contract if the opportunity to join the UFC arises. That would mean that Bobby Lashley would drop TNA like a bad habit and run to the UFC and start fighting as soon as possible. Which if it is a possibility in the future, means that TNA has and is still taking a huge risk by having Bobby Lashley under contract.
Another person to focus on through this possible scenario is the wife of Bobby Lashley, Kristal Lashley, who recently turned heel with her husband on TNA Impact!. Kristal Lashley is a trained professional wrestler and could easily step into the squared circle to compete with the TNA Knockouts. Now, if her husband were to leave TNA soon, she would most likely follow in his footsteps and leave to, which means TNA is taking a risk by having both of them under a long term deal of any kind.
There will be a point in time where the UFC will offer Bobby Lashley a contract if he remains successful in MMA and when push comes to shove, Bobby Lashley would most like choose the UFC, which makes one wonder where TNA will be left when the dust settles.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
