{"id":8527,"date":"2010-10-07T14:10:54","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T19:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/?p=8527"},"modified":"2010-10-07T14:12:48","modified_gmt":"2010-10-07T19:12:48","slug":"batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Batista&#8217;s No Longer Pursuing MMA Debut?, Looking to Future WWE Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When reports first broke that Batista was considering a mixed martial arts debut with Strikeforce, many doubted that the former WWE Champion was ever realistically planning to step into a cage fight.  Sources, however, persistently said the debut was going to happen, with fellow WWE wrestler-turned-fighter Bobby Lashley being eyed as an ideal first opponent.  The persistence, combined with photos of Batista training with Team Cesar Gracie, kept the discussion alive.<\/p>\n<p>But if a quote attributed to Batista from earlier this week proves true, one can officially table the rumors of &#8220;Big Dave&#8221; entering the world of mixed martial arts, at least in the near term.<\/p>\n<p>Joint reporting from MMA Supremacy and Bloody Elbow reveals that Batista is no longer planning for an imminent cage debut and is instead looking towards future involvement with WWE.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will not be doing MMA\/Strikeforce any time soon. So you can see me in the future of the WWE,&#8221; said Batista, according to the story.<\/p>\n<p>The news, which comes in the wake of web stories about Batista&#8217;s high asking price, should not be surprising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Batista&#039;s No Longer Pursuing MMA Debut?, Looking to Future WWE Return<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When reports first broke that Batista was considering a mixed martial arts debut with Strikeforce, many doubted that the former WWE Champion was ever\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Batista&#039;s No Longer Pursuing MMA Debut?, Looking to Future WWE Return\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When reports first broke that Batista was considering a mixed martial arts debut with Strikeforce, many doubted that the former WWE Champion was ever\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Headline Planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-07T19:10:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-10-07T19:12:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Cantor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cantorpedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@headlineplanet\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/\",\"name\":\"Batista's No Longer Pursuing MMA Debut?, Looking to Future WWE Return\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-07T19:10:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-10-07T19:12:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/b530255b81ceb7463ea060a9b8a302c8\"},\"description\":\"When reports first broke that Batista was considering a mixed martial arts debut with Strikeforce, many doubted that the former WWE Champion was ever\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/2010\/10\/07\/batistas-no-longer-pursuing-mma-debut-looking-to-future-wwe-return\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/\",\"name\":\"Headline Planet\",\"description\":\"Music News &amp; Charts, TV News &amp; Spoilers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/b530255b81ceb7463ea060a9b8a302c8\",\"name\":\"Brian Cantor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/headlineplanet.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5726265e0532f231e46bbddd41009383?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5726265e0532f231e46bbddd41009383?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Cantor\"},\"description\":\"Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. 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