WWE Legend Reveals Offers To Compete For UFC

WWE/UFC

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has revealed offers he received from Dana White to fight in the UFC.

After winning an Olympic gold medal in freestyle amateur wrestling in 1996, Angle made the transition to pro-wrestling in 1998, before finding success in WWE.

Speaking with Marc Raimondi for ESPN, Angle revealed that on numerous occassions, he had the opportunity to compete for the UFC.

Noting that after his Olympic success, he was offered a $150,000 dollar deal for 15 fights by a much smaller UFC, Angle said:

“I love fighting, but I don’t love it that much to get my butt kicked for 15 grand (per fight).

“So, I decided to go to WWE and when I got there, I had so much success early on. And then UFC started becoming mainstream in the early 2000s, and this is when I was having a stellar career in WWE, winning world championships, beating The Rock for the world championship, beating ‘Stone Cold’ (Steve Austin) for the world championship.

“I thought, ‘Man, I would love to fight, but I already had this great career going on right now.'”

Angle noted that he also received a UFC offer in 2006, but didn’t sign it as Dana White didn’t want him to work for UFC and TNA (IMPACT) at the same time:

“Dana White would not let me wrestle and fight at the same time. And I didn’t want to go back to TNA and say, ‘Listen, that contract I just signed is null and void.” 

Angle recalled turning down another UFC offer in 2009, which saw him offered $500,000 to be on the Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.

Noting that he realised while training that he was past his prime, Angle said:

“I started training for it a little bit and I realized, ‘I’m past my prime, I can’t do this.’

“I had to turn it down. But I’m very grateful for the offers Dana White gave me. He is an incredible person.” 

The Hall of Famer recently commented on the possibility of a wrestling return for WWE, which you can read more about right here.

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• Dana White
• Kurt Angle
• ufc
• wwe

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