Kurt Angle recounts some of his prior business interactions with the UFC.
Following his gold-medal-winning performance in the 1996 Olympics, Kurt Angle was approached by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) about potentially bringing him aboard to their company. During a recent interview with True Geordie, Angle divulged the details of the deal that was presented to him by UFC during that time.
“They contacted me in 1996, right after the Olympics as well. Back then, Dana White wasn’t any part of it. I think the Gracies owned it. They offered me a 10-fight deal for $150,000. That’s $15,000 a fight. That didn’t sound like a lot of money to me,” Angle said. “Back then, it was [a lot] for the UFC because those guys were only getting five grand for a fight. If they won the whole tournament, they got $50,000. The contract wasn’t so bad from the UFC standpoint back then. But what it is now today, these guys are getting 16, 18 million a fight on pay-per-view now.”
Ultimately, Angle passed on the UFC’s initial offer. This opened the door for him to officially enter the professional wrestling world, specifically WWE, two years later. After six-and-a-half years in the WWE system, Angle parted ways, thus becoming a free agent in 2006. During this timeframe, Angle began exploring other options in the professional wrestling world, while also circling back to UFC, which was then run by Dana White.
UFC’s Second Offer
“I went to Dana White in 2006, and I said, ‘Hey I’m ready.’ He’s like, ‘Okay this is what we’re going to do.’ He offered me a deal, he wanted me to be on Ultimate Fighter with Kimbo Slice,” Angle recounted. “I said, ‘Dana, those guys don’t get paid to be on that show.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pay you a substantial amount of money just to be on. it I’ll take care of you.’ He said, ‘Listen, whether you win or not, I’ll give you a six-fight deal.’ I said ‘Well, that sounds fair.'”
“So I was getting ready to do it, and I ended up signing with TNA [Wrestling] a week prior. I thought that I could do both, which was crazy and it was stupid. TNA was gonna give me a part-time contract. So I figured I could train UFC as well. I told Dana, ‘I just signed with TNA. Can I do both?’ He said ‘No you can’t do both.’ I said, ‘Well Dana, I have to respect this contract I have with TNA. I’ll come back to you if my contract expires in a decent amount of time and I’m still at an age that you want me. I’ll come back to you.'”
Having already committed to TNA Wrestling, Angle opted to fully dedicate himself to them.
“I had to pass on UFC because they wouldn’t allow me to do both and I just signed with TNA,” Angle said. “I didn’t want to tell TNA, ‘Listen I’m not coming. I’m gonna go with the UFC,’ because I just signed the deal.”
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