Stephanie McMahon Speaks On Brock Lesnar Returning To MMA And Being Competitive With UFC

Stephanie McMahon spoke with Business Insider about WWE as well as former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar returning to MMA. Here are the highlights.

On Lesnar fighting Mark Hunt at UFC 200 and if WWE supports his decision:

Brock is a unique proposition, but just to get to the broader question: UFC is not a competitor to the WWE because we are entertainment and UFC is competitive sport. It’s very different. WWE is all about protagonists and antagonists where ultimately our conflicts are settled in the ring with action that is akin to Hollywood. It’s incredible stunt-like action, and the match itself tells a story, but our audience is engaged in the characters and their storyline. It has to be relatable to them so that they care to see the tragedy or triumph, and we’re at an advantage because we can script it. UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise? So I think we have the best of both worlds and the opportunity to tell the stories in the way we want to tell them.

In Brock Lesnar’s case, it was really a special case that we are allowing him to do this fight [against Mark Hunt on July 9]. But like you said it’s not really a cross-promotional opportunity, but we are allowing him to participate in that fight. We are not supporting the fight necessarily but, again, it’s not a competitor to us and the more that our superstars, that’s how we refer to our talent, the more they do outside of WWE, the more awareness it generates and the broader the audience can be that is then brought back into our properties. So we recognize the value of that.

On who is her favorite Superstar:

I grew up with Andre, he was always my friend, and I think he taught me a long time ago, regardless of how people judge you for what you look like, you need to be true to yourself. My father has this expression that you have to be able to look yourself in the eyes in the mirror, you know, and know that you’re a good person. If that’s true and you feel good about yourself, then that’s all that matters no matter what other people’s perceptions are.

You can read the entire interview here.

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