Bellator MMA News: Kurt Angle To Fight Ken Shamrock In MMA Fight?
Bellator MMA may not be as popular as UFC, but they are successfully growing in the world of MMA. They made a shocking announcement this past week by claiming TNA Superstar Kurt Angle will be coming to the promotion, and it does appear he will be fighting eventually. For those unaware, Angle has a big time background as a wrestler. He is a former Olympic Gold Medalist and was actually quite close to making the Olympic wrestling team yet again a few years back.
While Kurt Angle does have legit skill as a wrestler, which was able to help him in transitioning to the world of pro-wrestling, it does not mean he will transition well into the world of Mixed Martial Arts. At the age of 46, Angle is by no means a spring chicken. He is actually considering retirement from the wrestling ring in 2016, which makes a move to MMA only seem weirder.
Now, it looks like his first opponent is known. According to Cageside Seats, Bellator MMA might be planning to do a fight between Ken Shamrock and Kurt Angle, eventually. It does seem that they might give Angle an easier test first and then gradually move him up for something like that. Rumors of the fight happening have made rounds; Bellator is certainly interested in making it happen, but just not any time soon.
Bellator MMA is by no means a stranger to using pro-wrestlers. They attempted to bring Alberto Del Rio in a while back, who did have some interest in doing some MMA while also wrestling. They also have used people like Bobby Lashley, who worked with TNA at the same time. He began with Bellator MMA when TNA was still with Spike TV, the same channel Bellator broadcasts through in the United States.
UFC was helped by the Spike partnership, as well. With Bellator doing free fights on Spike, they seem to get a lot of attention from MMA fans who know they don’t have to pay a lot of money to see quality fights taken place. With UFC, you may frop $50 for a few fights that may not be fantastic. With Ronda Rousey fights, you may only get 30 seconds if you’re lucky and you lost a grocery bill on that.
Bellator offering a free event is good for everyone involved. If they did manage to get Kurt Angle in for a fight, he would get a lot of attention. Regarding his TNA brethren, Lashley has said that with proper training, Angle can succeed in MMA even at his age.
Former WWE World Champion Batista had a stint with MMA for a short period of time a while back but claimed he just wanted to do it to say he did it. He didn’t feel like going back into that world. Kurt Angle has been talking about doing an MMA fight for some time and would probably do a good bit of them if his body holds up.
His age does play against him. CM Punk might be starting late as well, but there is about a decade difference in age between the two of them. There is a bitmore risk in picking up Angle than with Punk, which is why UFC didn’t offer Angle a deal like they did with Punk. Bellator may only be using Angle to help them with bringing attention to their company but Angle gets a fight out of this, which is something he has wanted for some time. Fans aren’t likely to be upset, since both sides are getting what they want at the end of the day.
There is no word when Kurt Angle will get in the cage, but there are some who speculate a match next summer.
[Image via WWE]
