Kurt Angle joined WWE after winning gold in the Olympics (WWE)
Kurt Angle is an Olympic Gold Medalist and could have been fighting in the UFC
Kurt Angle is one of the greatest when it comes to professional wrestling. The Olympic gold medalist has done it all during his time in WWE and then in TNA.
He won his Olympic medal in freestyle wrestling back in 1996 with a broken neck, something he has alluded to time and again during his professional wrestling career.
Angle won almost every single title there is to win in WWE and he even returned after his in-ring retirement to become a general manager for a short time. Angle’s run in TNA was fantastic as well, and he won several titles there.
However, things could have been different for him. While speaking to Marc Raimondi of ESPN, Angle confirmed that after he was done with his run in WWE, there was a chance he would be fighting in the UFC.
Dana White flew Angle out to Las Vegas to meet him. An offer was made but the wrestler turned it down. He had already signed a deal with TNA and that would allow him to compete in MMA. However, the UFC was not going to allow that.
“Dana White would not let me wrestle and fight at the same time,” Angle told ESPN. “And I didn’t want to go back to TNA and say, ‘Listen, that contract I just signed is null and void.'”
Kurt Angle was a huge name in the combat world after his win in the Olympics. That was a selling point during his WWE run, and he confirmed that the first time UFC contacted him was after the gold medal feat.
This was in 1996 and the company was then run by Semaphore Entertainment Group. Dana White was not in the picture then, and Angle was offered $150,000 for 15 fights in the organisation.
Angle turned that offer down citing the amount he was getting paid. He confirmed that he was willing to fight. but the money was not enough.
Things did work out for him in WWE and he was offered a UFC contract for a third time. When he was done with TNA after his 2006 contract, he was offered $500,000 to appear on The Ultimate Fighter show in 2009.
There also was the offer of a contract after the show was done but Angle had to turn that down as well.
The Olympic medalist claimed that age was a factor and he believed he was not in his prime. Angle would have been 41 then, and with several neck surgeries, it could have been a risky move to fight in the UFC.
Angle added that he was grateful to White for the offer but things were just not meant to be.
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