There has long been a ton of similarities between the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), especially in its fanbase as many fans of one are also fans of the other.
I know for me, personally, I was a die-hard WWE superfan when I was a young teen but found my way into the UFC in later life.
But the two promotions have differences that make each unique, so if you’re in doubt keep reading as I compare each difference between UFC and WWE.
Table of Contents
1. UFC is real fighting, WWE is not
The first and most obvious difference to cover is how the UFC is a real combat sport where its athletes fight each other to try and win by knockout, submission, or judges decision.
In comparison, the WWE falls under what is called “pro wrestling” and exists in a theatrical world where matchups are rehearsed performances, purely for entertainment. It isn’t a real combat sport.
That said, it doesn’t necessarily mean one is better than the other. It all depends on your personal preferences for entertainment.
I have a certain degree of bloodlust to watch athletes try to dominate each other in a real fight (or as close to it).
But as I’ve already mentioned, I also loved “wrasslin” when I was much younger the WWE still has a fond place in my heart.
2. Ring differences between UFC vs WWE
The UFC and WWE use different kinds of rings for their matchups.
As the UFC is a mixed martial arts competition, they use an MMA cage for fights and as it’s octagonal in shape, its affectionately called “the octagon“—a fighting area trademarked by the UFC’s holding company.
Other MMA tournaments and competitions use different shapes like a circle.
The WWE uses a ring that’s more familiar to a boxing ring which has a square shape with four corners and three rope levels.
There could be some slight differences in the materials and strength of a WWE ring to a boxing ring because wrestlers use the ropes and corners much more as part of the performance.
So you’d expect more padding on the inside of the corners where wrestlers are thrown against often.
The ropes are likely stronger to handle wrestlers vaulting them, being thrown against them and jumping off them.
WWE sometimes uses a tall square cage with a roof in the “Hell in a Cell” special events.
3. Competitive matchup differences
The UFC’s competition style is very simple, as it’s only ever one single fighter competing against another in a 15-minute or 25-minute matchup.
In the early days of the UFC, they’d have tournament brackets in a single event where fighters had to compete multiple times—most MMA promotions don’t do this anymore, thankfully.
The WWE is very different. As it’s a show, the athletes can generally perform a lot more in one night.
Wrestlers use plenty of cardio, strength and acrobatics to do what they do, but their opponents aren’t actually trying to harm each other so they’re a lot more relaxed.
WWE matchups can involve two, four, or many athletes at once as they use different matchup styles:
- 1 vs 1
- 2 vs 2 (“tag team”)
- 3 vs 3 (“triple threat”)
- Ladder match
- Extreme rules match
- Royal Rumble
- Hell in the Cell
4. Athlete uniform differences
Another significant difference between WWE and UFC is what the athletes are wearing during their matchup.
The UFC fighters wear a minimum amount of clothing that makes the fight fair.
Male fighters in the UFC are wearing shorts/trunks, a groin cup underneath and MMA gloves. Occasionally, they could also be wearing ankle wraps and knee pads.
Female fighters in the UFC are essentially the same, except they will be wearing a sports bra or compression shirt.
The WWE borrows most of its attire from the world of competitive (“real”) wrestling, so that usually means wearing a singlet for some wrestlers. Others might just wear simple Y-trunks.
But these “pro” wrestlers are often wearing long boots, elbow pads, and knee pads that are incredibly lightweight, adding to the overall appearance.
They could also have more features added to their appearance that matches with their character—face paint, arm bands, capes, full-face masks, and more.
5. Weight class differences
The UFC follows a structured weight class system for their fighters whereas the WWE doesn’t have any weight classes.
The UFC’s lightest weight class is the Strawweight for women or Flyweight for men. The heaviest weight class is the Featherweight for women and Heavyweight for men.
All UFC weight classes have belts for its champions to display who is the best fighter in that division at the current time.
In WWE, a 5″6′ 175lbs Rey Mysterio could compete against the 7″2′ tall 383 lbs Big Show.
The WWE has its own belts but are mostly untied to specific weight classes (because they don’t matter).
WWE has these belts:
- World Heavyweight Championship (Raw)
- Women’s World Championship (Raw)
- Intercontinental Championship (Raw)
- WWE Championship (SmackDown)
- Universal Championship (SmackDown)
- WWE Women’s Championship (SmackDown)
- United States Championship (SmackDown)
- Raw Tag Team Championship
- SmackDown Tag Team Championship
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
There’s also a few more developmental belts from NXT.
But these belts at the WWE are somewhat arbitrary, invented to make matchups more exciting and compelling to the fanbase.
6. Rule differences
As the UFC is a real combat sport, it has a very specific set of rules that are pulled from the Unified Rules of MMA.
This rulebook sets the boundaries of what strikes are legal or illegal, the uniform allowances, and how fighters can win.
In the UFC, you can win by stoppages, judges decision, a knockout or technical knockout, or the submission.
Wrestling matches are most commonly won by pinfall.
One wrestler lays over the body of their opponent, pulling up one or both legs to show that their opponent is unable to compete, then the referee counts to three.
If the wrestler being pinned raises his arm to elevate a part of his back, he’s unable to be counted in the pin. It makes for some entertaining moments in the history of wrestling!
WWE wrestlers can get away with all kinds of illegal blows that you’d never see in the UFC (or any other real combat sport) such as eye pokes, fish hooks, groin strikes and more—but it’s all for show and entertainment.
7. Differences on athletes pay
According to the former UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, she decided to transition to the WWE because it pays better and is moderately safer to work in.
The average UFC salary for most UFC fighters is around $30,000 per fight without bonuses.
Ronda said that the average wrestler can earn an annual salary of up to $500,000—a much more attractive number, considering UFC fighters usually only fight 2-3 times per year.
While WWE superstars like John Cena can earn up to $500,000 on a single main-event appearance.
Some UFC fighters can earn much more than that, potentially over $1 million per fight if they are also getting PPV revenue but it’s few and far between.
WWE and UFC crossovers
As the viewership between the UFC and WWE is quite similar, we’ve seen several crossovers in recent history.
Both organizations involve being very physically fit and strong and some wrestlers have the tenacity and violence necessary to become a real combat athlete. Some not so much.
We’ve likely seen more WWE wrestlers move into the UFC (usually temporarily) to compete than the opposite.
A few prime examples of athletes that moved from the WWE to the UFC are:
- Brock Lesnar
- CM Punk
- Dave Bautista
- Dan Severn
And some went in the opposite direction from the UFC to WWE, like:
- Ronda Rousey
- Matt Riddle
- Shayna Baszler
Wrestlers typically underestimate the level of fitness and aggression required to be successful in the UFC, a great example of that is CM Punk and his swift demise inside the octagon.
UFC fighter vs WWE wrestler
Although there have been several crossovers, most of the time a WWE wrestler wouldn’t stand a chance against an actual UFC fighter in a real fight.
Some WWE wrestlers have a college wrestling background, like Brock Lesnar, where if they can resist enough damage and get a hold of the opponent then they have a chance to land a takedown.
An opponent taken down to the mat is usually less dangerous, particularly if you have the upper hand of wrestling skill.
But where most WWE wrestlers fall short entering the UFC is a multitude of poor skills in striking offense and defense and get caught on the chin easily.
Many UFC fighters can rely mostly on their striking skills and footwork but will usually have some decent knowledge of takedown defense to resist a wrestlers’ offense.
When it’s the other way round, wrestlers from a performance sport like WWE do not have the years of developed knowledge to know what to expect and will struggle to avoid heavy blows to the head or body.
UFC and WWE merger
In April 2023, the UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, acquired the WWE brand and announced that the UFC and the WWE would be merged into a new publicly traded company, TKO.
At the time of the deal, the UFC was valued at $12.1 billion and the WWE at $9.3 billion.
Considering these numbers, the UFC was a bigger organization than the WWE.
But now with both combined, TKO becomes one of the biggest sports companies in the world.
It’s a merger that makes sense when considering the similarities of its fanbases.
Especially since the companies have collaborated at various moments to create the path for superstars like Brock Lesnar to move between the promotions or for The Rock to present the BMF belt to Jorge Masvidal.
I would take a guess that this makes it even more likely for crossovers to happen in the future where athletes that are close to retiring from the physical demands of MMA can move into pro-wrestling and have an even longer career of high earning potential.
And we also might see more WWE superstars take the plunge into a real fight with some “superfight” special events at the UFC!
Which is better between WWE vs UFC?
Both organizations have their own positives and negatives and deciding which is better usually comes down to your personal preferences between entertainment value and realistic fighting.
The WWE is jam-packed with events every week of the year, often multiple, alongside their huge events like the annual WrestleMania.
On pure entertainment value, WWE is where it’s at.
But if you have a specific lust for the modern equivalent of the colosseums of the Roman empire—UFC is going to be better.
You also might prefer mixed martial arts in general because you have an interest and passion for martial arts.
The UFC puts MMA to the real test to find out what martial arts are the strongest.
Which, by the way, is often wrestling or sambo.
These are both very different products, packaged to entertain from violence—one scripted, another isn’t.
WWE wrestling has something to entertain most people and be approachable for most ages and gender, but the UFC more often attracts a middle-aged male crowd who like to watch a fight.
UFC fights are brutal, gory, and nail-biting to watch.
So you have to decide for yourself, which do you like more?