New WWE Raw General Manager Kurt Angle told Chris Jericho on the latest Talk Is Jericho episode that the UFC made a lucrative offer to him to try to lure him to the Octagon.
“When I was serious about fighting, which was right around ’98, right before I got to WWE, UFC offered me a deal, it was 10 fights for $150,000, and I was like ‘are you nuts?!’ They’re like ‘well this is the most we’re paying everyone,’ and I’m like ‘well then I’m not doing it.’ So I started in WWE and all of the sudden UFC explodes, and now guys are getting millions,” Angle said.
The WWE Hall of Famer also detailed negotations and meetings he had with the ultimate fighting promotion.
“I did talk to Dana White in 2006 and in 2010, I flew out and met with him both times. The issue was, first of all, we couldn’t get a starting date,” Angle said. “He wanted me ready in four and a half weeks for one fight, which was not gonna happen. I thought I needed three to six months. But I was also in denial. I don’t have the strength I had before I broke my neck in 2003, and breaking it several times in two and a half years didn’t help. I can bench 185 pounds, and for a man that weighs 220, that’s not good. I do have strength in my upper body, and it’s more of a wrestlers’ type of strength, I can’t life heavy weights. My legs are strong as hell and so are my hips. But with the severe neck injuries that I had, I couldn’t get in the Octagon. I would get embarrassed. And it wouldn’t be knockouts and stuff, it would be they would get a hold of my arm and they would rip it off, because I don’t have the strength to protect myself.”