Recently in conversation with ESPN‘s Marc Raimondi, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle touched on a variety of subjects, talking about how he was approached by the UFC three different times during his career, why he did not sign with the organization, whether he regrets choosing wrestling over MMA, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On being offered a UFC contract after he had just signed with TNA: “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.’”
On receiving a UFC offer back in 1996, why he signed with WWE instead: “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. And I thought, ‘Man, I would love to fight, but I already had this great career going on right now.’”
On being offered the chance to work ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in 2009 (the deal was worth $500,000!): “I started training for it a little bit and I realized, ‘I’m past my prime, I can’t do this’. So, I had to turn it down. But I’m very grateful for the offers Dana White gave me. He is an incredible person.”
On whether he regrets choosing wrestling over MMA: “Every once in a while, it gets to me. And when I watch these fights, I’m like, ‘Gosh, man, I think I would’ve done pretty well in this. Seeing Brock Lesnar, my friend, be UFC champion and seeing Randy Couture, who I trained with for the Olympics, being UFC champion. It makes you question; did you do the right thing? But I look back and I say, ‘You know what? I had a pretty stellar career in pro wrestling.’ So, I can’t regret that.”
