Olympic gold medallist and professional wrestling superstar Kurt Angle is a long time fan of mixed martial arts and he is now flirting with taking on one of the sport’s legends.
Despite having risen to fame for his professional wrestling career, Angle has undeniable skills in real fighting as evidenced by his 1996 Olympic gold medal win in the sport of freestyle wrestling.
Angle appeared on The Roman Show earlier this week and expressed interest in competing with MMA icons like Kimbo Slice or Royce Gracie. At 47 years old Angle has indicated that a potential MMA fight would be have to be against a fellow “older guy.”
“Of course, I’m not going to fight a guy in their prime,” Angle said … “It’s obviously gonna be one of the older guys. But if it does come to fruition, it’ll be a helluva fight, whether its Kimbo Slice, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn … or even Royce Gracie. If I do decide [to fight], it’ll be with a Hall of Famer … it won’t be someone in their prime in their early 30s, no way, not now.”
It’s not the first time the TNA wrestler has flirted with mixed martial arts; in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour last year, Angle revealed that he had discussed a potential signing with the UFC and other promotions.
“I’ve had meetings with them all in MMA, World Series, Elite XC, twice with UFC,” Angle said. “Whether it was the money or the timing wasn’t right, it didn’t happen. I considered going until I turned 42.”
With Bellator booking the likes of Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock and Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie — set for Bellator 149 on Feb. 19 — it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Angle’s MMA debut comes to fruition in the near future.
