Kurt Angle Knew He Couldn’t Compete In UFC Due His Neck Injury

Kurt Angle offers the truth on his UFC prospects.

In 1996, Kurt Angle won an Olympic Gold Medal in freestyle wrestling. Shortly after he wrapped up his amateur/Olympic wrestling career, Angle transitioned to the world of professional wrestling, signing with WWE. Throughout his time in WWE, there were hints that Angle could take a fight in the UFC, but a fight never ever came to fruition. In his latest Facebook Q&A session, Angle discussed why he never thought he could make a serious run at a UFC Championship.

“I was a light heavyweight, although I could have fought in the heavyweight class as well. I never had the chance to do MMA because I knew deep down, my neck injuries were too severe to compete in the octagon. I had lost a lot of strength in my arms due to my neck injury, that would have left me vulnerable for arm bars. It only got worse the 2nd time I broke my neck in 2003.”

The closest Angle ever got to competing in an MMA fight came on a 2004 episode of SmackDown when he engaged in a shoot wrestling match with MMA fighter and Tough Enough hopeful Daniel Puder. Puder had Angle locked in a kimura, but ended up pinning himself. Angle later revealed that he had an offer on the table from Dana White and the UFC to fight Puder in the Octagon, but Angle had just signed with TNA/IMPACT.

Other highlights from the Q&A session.

Something I was always wondering who trained you for pro wrestling?

I had Dory Funk and Tom Prichard. This was back in 1999 when WWE didn’t have a minor league training facility like NXT. It worked well for me though. I trained for 1 week a month. The program WWE has today is more effective, the athletes train every single day.

Can I ask as a spectator
What’s the best match you have ever watched?

I really enjoyed Hart vs Michaels Iron Man Match. They were able to keep everybody in suspense without 1 pinball in the 60 minutes. That’s tough to do.

What does the future hold for The Fiend in your opinion?

I like the gimmick. It should do extremely well.

What would leave you more tired? Wrestling someone like a prime Mysterio and keeping up with his pace or having to slam around a super heavyweight like The big show?

They’re both equally as difficult. But, I enjoyed wrestling Rey. It was a challenge for me because I had no experience with high flyers. I adapted pretty quickly though.