Kurt Angle is known for his career with the WWE, but he could have been a UFC fighter.
Angle won gold in wrestling at the 1996 Olympics and after it, many fans wondered what would be next for him. He ended up turning to professional wrestling, but that wasn’t the only offer as he revealed he was offered a 10-fight deal with the UFC.
“First time was right after the Olympics in 1996. Dana White wasn’t involved with the UFC back then. They came to me and they gave me their best contract, and it wasn’t a very good contract. It was ten fights for $150,000. That’s $15,000 per fight. And that was the highest they were giving to the fighters for the fights,” Angle said to ESPN. “I was like, you know what, that doesn’t sound right. I love fighting, but I don’t love it that much to get my butt kicked for 15 grand.”
Kurt Angle offered to fight Kimbo Slice
Kurt Angle ended up becoming the WWF champion in 2000 and was later the WWE champion. He was one of WWE’s biggest stars but the UFC kept calling him and he revealed Dana White called him up and offered him $500,000 to face Kimbo Slice on The Ultimate Fighter which was an offer he thought.
“I considered it. I said well, Dana, you don’t pay those guys to compete on TV. And he said I know but I’ll give you half a million to be on the show, and then I’ll give you this contract, a six-fight deal regardless of whether you win it, The Ultimate Fighter, or not. You’ll have a contract when it’s over, and I thought about it. At that point in my life I was 41 years old. I broke my neck five times. I sat back and I realized, 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,” Angle said.
Ultimately, Kurt Angle decided not to take the offer and he never fought in MMA.
