AEW Star Says UFC Was An Option For Him

AEW/UFC

An AEW star has opened up about his love of martial arts and has revealed that UFC was an option for him to pursue.

Samoa Joe made these comments during a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, revealing that he still trains in martial arts.

The former AEW World Champion shared his love for martial arts during the interview, noting how it influences his in-ring style, saying:

“I love martial arts, and to this day I still practice and still train, and it was something I enjoyed. I love studying the art of it and understanding the concepts behind it. I just took stuff that I enjoyed and I tried to integrate it into my work.

“At the time, Lucha Libre was so big, and then the aerial high flying, especially in Southern California, with the border being right down the street, the influence was all over here. So it’s like I needed something to differentiate myself.

“So MMA was kind of coming into its own, especially here in Southern California. I knew a lot of the guys, so I just started saying to myself well how about I start taking some of those things and bring them over to kind of this genre, because I feel in 10 years this will be the biggest thing in combat sports, and I was right about that. I hope some of that stuff translates.”

As for pursuing a career in the UFC, which is now the sister company to WWE under TKO Group Holdings, Samoa Joe stated:

“It was open to me, but probably not. I’m an entertainer by trade.

“ I understand how people view me as a wrestler and my style and stuff, but at my heart I grew up in show business and I’m about entertaining people, and that really was my goal with this was not to be a badass, but to go out there and make people happy and having a good night at the wrestling show.”

In the interview, Samoa Joe would also reveal that he has been considering retirement “a lot” as he doesn’t want to outstay his welcome.

Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall has recently revealed that he would enjoy the opportunity to transition to a career in WWE.

Transcript from chrisvanvliet.com.

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• ufc
• Samoa Joe
• AEW

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