Kurt Angle reveals that he turned down several UFC offers over the years

Professional wrestling legend Kurt Angle had three different opportunities to join the UFC – but none of them panned out.

For those of you unfamiliar, Angle is one of the biggest names in professional wrestling, having made a name for himself in both WWE and TNA (also known as IMPACT Wrestling). However, prior to becoming a professional wrestler, Angle actually won an Olympic gold medal in the 1996 Olympic Games in Freestyle Wrestling. He signed with WWE soon after, jump starting his career inside the squared circle.

Speaking to ESPN, Angle revealed that he also had an offer from the UFC shortly after the Olympics to fight for them. However, the deal that was on the table at the time wasn’t worth the risk, not to mention Dana White wasn’t involved with the promotion yet.

“I got offered three different times,” Angle said (via BJPenn.com). “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… So I decided to go to WWE.”

The UFC came calling for Angle again, this time in 2006 shortly after he left the WWE and signed a new deal with TNA. Only this time, Dana White was reluctant to allow Angle to continue to wrestle while under UFC contract, thus, Angle declined yet again.

“In 2006, when I left the WWE, my manager contacted Dana White… Dana flew me out and put me up in a really nice penthouse suite. He offered me a deal and I considered it, and I ended up turning it down. The reason I turned it down in 2006 was because I just signed a contract with TNA, and Dana White would not let me wrestle and fight at the same time.”

Finally, the UFC’s third and final offer came to Angle in his early 40s, when the Olympian believed he was done with professional wrestling. White pitched having Angle join The Ultimate Fighter with Kimbo Slice. But after some training for an MMA jump, Angle realized the athletic window for such a venture had passed him by.

“…Dana White told me ‘when you’re done with wrestling, come back to me,’ and I did. When I thought I was going to be done with wrestling, I went back to Dana, and Dana came back with an idea to be in [The Ultimate Fighter] with Kimbo Slice… 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.”