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Big E has carved out a name as one of the biggest WWE stars of this generation but has also expressed his desire to make his mark in the MMA space. This desire is best characterized by his involvement with XFC where Big E, real name Ettore Ewen, regularly attends board meetings with a defined focus on the digital side of things to tell the stories of the promotion's fighters.
XFC 51 will take place at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sept. 27. Speaking on Bowks Talking Bouts on when he got involved with XFC, Big E said:
"I worked closely with Jeff Lambert and his company in Detroit. After the season was over, shortly after, Jeff and his team reached out to me about this possible board seat. I've never served on a board before but he talked to me about revitalizing the XFC and his plans. The more we sat down, as a professional wrestler for the last fifteen years, I'm very talent-first."
He went on to explain:
"So when he talked about what he wanted to do for fighters, taking care of fighters, promoting fighters in a way that I thought was fair and the right way, it was really something that spoke to me. So I've been an MMA fan for many, many years now and I jumped at the opportunity."
Check out Big E's comments below (0:35):
Big E on whether MMA competition was ever on his radar
In the aforementioned interview, the WWE superstar also revealed how he got interested in the sport of MMA. Along with one of his partners in the New Day, Xavier Woods, he played UFC 2 obsessively for Woods' YouTube channel UpUpDownDown.
He also shared that he would watch UFC cards during his college days, and described himself as more of a casual fan back then. His time with the UFC video game caused him to delve far deeper into the MMA world and become a hardcore fan. This guided E to watch promotions like Bellator, PFL, and LFA to name a few.
When asked if MMA was ever on his radar, Big E candidly said that the sport wasn't as popular then as it is today. For that reason, when he was trying to decide his career path, he didn't consider going into MMA competition. With his work with XFC, however, it's clear that things have changed.
