Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Champion Dave Bautista, known as "Batista" inside the squared circle, is less than a month away from his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut against Rashid Evans on Oct. 6, 2012 at the Duncan Doughnuts Theater in Providence, Rhode Island.

Can't fight him in a grocery store ... can't fight him in a bakery!

The 43-year-old "Animal" owns the Gracie Fighter Gym in Tampa, Florida, and has trained in combat sports over the past several years, but is quickly learning what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real.

From his comments on a recent episode of MMA Uncensored Live:

"It's going great. I got dropped for the first time, last week. It was Stephan Bonnar. He hit me right in the head. My legs went numb and I dropped. I just got up and continued the round. It's just one of those things. I love it."

Find out why Bautista would like to emulate himself after former Strikeforce and DREAM Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, after the jump.

"I always tell people that Alistair Overeem is someone I'd like to emulate myself after. I've always seen him as my kind of prototypical heavyweight. He's my idea of how a heavyweight fighter should be."

I find that comparison unintentionally hilarious.

That's because the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has ruled "The Reem" ineligible to fight until December after pumping himself full of testosterone in preparation for a championship title fight against Junior dos Santos earlier this year. "Demolition Man" certainly looks the part and can strike with the best of them, but all that glitters is not gold.

And Bautista is built like a brock brick shithouse.

That in no way implies "Big Dave" is engaging in any extracurricular activity, but that's the kind of heat you can bring upon yourself when you admire a fighter who breaks the rules versus a less muscular heavyweight champion (or ex-champion) like "Cigano" or Cain Velasquez, both of whom, to date, are squeaky clean.

What kind of effort can we expect in "The Ocean State?"