Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts have been parallel lines over their respective existences.
Sure, there have been times when those lines have been broken briefly, with intersection as the result—Muhammad Ali fighting Antonio Inoki and almost anything that happened in Japan over the years are examples—but the two have largely stayed in their lanes.
Until recently, that is.
Somewhere along the way, modern MMA got lost. It got away from being a purely athletic conceit—away from being a martial arts spectacle designed to establish the greatest warriors of our time—and veered into pro wrestling camp on an almost full-time basis.