Hulk Hogan Claims He Turned Down A UFC Contract — UFC Founder Calls Him A Liar


Former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has told some pretty tall tales over the years, all of which end up being refuted. One of those tall tales is that he was offered the bass guitar gig by Metallica, which he turned down. Another is that he was offered the leading role in the award-winning move The Wrestler. Both were publicly refuted by Metallic drummer Lars Ulrich and by the director of The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky.

Hogan’s latest tall tale came during his promotional tour of Australia, where WWE will be touring soon. Hogan said during an interview with The Herald Sun that the UFC made him an offer to fight in one of the early UFC tournaments, and that he turned it down because he felt that the sport was too violent.

“We looked at, it and it was very violent and the referees weren’t stopping the matches and letting guys get beat up when they should have been stopped. So, we just didn’t want to have any part of it. But it’s become quite a phenomena.”

Much like Hogan’s other two stories, his UFC offer story has been publicly refuted by the founder of the UFC, Campbell McLaren, after he was asked by a fan on Twitter if Hogan’s story was true.

“I call bulls**t on Hulk Hogan. I never wanted him in the original UFC. Who did he talk to? Not me. Hulk Hogan being asked to fight in the UFC is absolutely false.”

While most people look at MMA today, and the UFC specifically as the best fighters in the world competing with one another, it wasn’t always that way. In the early days of MMA, even in the UFC, there was a freak-show element to it. Obviously, they used that element hoping that it would draw attention to their product and in the early days it did, but not the attention that they wanted. So, Hogan claiming that he was offered a deal to fight in the UFC during the early years of the organization isn’t very far-fetched.

These days, there can be a bit of a freak show aspect within the UFC product. Whether it’s bringing in Kimbo Slice for a cup of coffee in the organization, or signing former WWE Champion CM Punk, who has never had a professional fight in his life, the aspect is still there sporadically. While things didn’t work out too well for Kimbo, there’s no question that he got the UFC a lot of attention. Nobody really knows how CM Punk will do, but, much like Kimbo, everyone is expecting that he’ll do big business for the UFC.

[Image via Grantland]

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