Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio is set to compete against Tito Ortiz in a mixed martial arts competition in December. During a recent media event, Del Rio offered advice to a fellow pro wrestler who is transitioning into MMA: Thunder Rosa.
“You have to turn off the pro wrestling switch and start throwing punches 100 percent,” Del Rio told Wrestling Inc. “I give her a lot of credit. She’s been wanting to do this for quite some time. And it’s not easy for someone that was in the pro wrestling business, and just from one day to the other make the transition to MMA…it’s really difficult.”
He continued, “Some people know this, some others don’t, but for me it wasn’t that way. I started in amateur wrestling and I competed for many years in tournaments all over the world, and then I became a pro wrestler. Pro wrestler to MMA, MMA back to pro wrestler. I know she’s going to be doing fantastic in San Antonio, my hometown. She’s been training for this for many months. We have been supporting her as athletes in the company with Campbell and everyone else. I’m pretty sure she completely turned off the pro wrestling switch and started training because this is MMA and everything goes.”
Rosa has previously performed for both Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor (ROH) and recently had her first MMA fight. This was held under Combate Americas. She lost via unanimous decision to Nadine Mandiau.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
