Cody Rhodes Reveals Brandi Rhodes Strongly Opposed His Potential MMA Career
Cody Rhodes once entertained the possibility of stepping away from professional wrestling to explore mixed martial arts, but the idea was quickly dismissed after he discussed it with his wife, Brandi Rhodes. The former Undisputed WWE Champion revealed that Brandi, who has generally encouraged his ambitious career decisions, gave him a surprisingly direct refusal when he considered taking up MMA.
Speaking on the Double Coverage podcast with Zach Hirsch, Rhodes reflected on his amateur wrestling career and whether he had ever thought about competing in professional combat sports. A two-time Georgia state high school wrestling champion, Rhodes admitted that he had briefly considered testing himself in MMA, especially given his previous exposure to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
However, bringing the possibility to Brandi resulted in an immediate rejection. Rhodes explained that her response stood out because she rarely discourages his unusual ideas.
“I thought about it. I mentioned it one time to Brandi. I was like, I wonder if I trained and could do it. And that was a rare time where she was like hard no. And I thought, man, she never really says no about my wacky ambitions, but maybe she just knew I’d get decimated or something, but that was a hard no.”
Although the idea never developed into anything serious, Rhodes’ comments highlighted his curiosity about pursuing a different direction in combat sports. His experience in amateur wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu had already given him some understanding of disciplines beyond professional wrestling.
Cody Rhodes Discusses His Early Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Experience
Rhodes also spoke about how he first encountered Brazilian jiu-jitsu while competing in high school wrestling. During that period, the UFC was steadily gaining attention, although mixed martial arts had not yet achieved the widespread popularity it has today.
He noted that finding opportunities to train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu was considerably more difficult back then compared to the accessibility of the discipline in modern times.
Despite having some experience, Rhodes was quick to downplay his abilities. He described himself as an average practitioner and explained that his primary reason for participating was to maintain his conditioning and stay active during the wrestling offseason.
He also discussed the technical differences between folkstyle and freestyle wrestling, particularly when considering how transferable those skills would be to an actual fight.
“But also, folkstyle wrestling, you don’t slam a guy. You don’t get to the manipulation. Freestyle, you get points for how high they might go. But I was just okay. And it helped me in the offseason. And I ended it right where I needed to end it.”
His comments suggested that while wrestling provided a useful athletic foundation, he understood that his experience did not necessarily translate into being a high-level mixed martial artist.
Cody Rhodes Believes Chad Gable Would Be WWE’s Best MMA Representative
During the conversation, Rhodes was also asked which WWE Superstar would be best suited to represent the company if someone were to make a legitimate transition into combat sports.
His answer was immediate: Chad Gable.
The former WWE Tag Team Champion has an impressive amateur wrestling background and served as an alternate for the United States Olympic wrestling team. Rhodes acknowledged that Gable possessed stronger credentials for such a challenge.
“Whenever people bring that up, I’m always of the thought, yep, that was—I was good. But Chad Gable, he was an Olympic alternate. If we’re looking for someone who’s going to lead the fight, it’d be Chad over there. You know what I mean?” Rhodes said.
Rhodes also joked that he hoped his wrestling and jiu-jitsu experience would never need to be tested in a real-world altercation. He added that finding himself involved in an actual fight in 2026 or 2027 would probably mean something had gone seriously wrong.
Cody Rhodes Remains Focused on His WWE Career
For the time being, Rhodes has no apparent plans to pursue a career outside professional wrestling. His attention remains firmly on WWE, where he has another major challenge ahead of him.
He is scheduled to face Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match at Crown Jewel on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their rivalry has become increasingly personal, with Orton previously attacking Rhodes following their WrestleMania 42 encounter.
With another physically demanding showdown on the horizon, Rhodes has more than enough to focus on inside the WWE ring. His brief consideration of MMA appears to be nothing more than an interesting alternative career path that never moved beyond a conversation with his wife.
