Kurt Angle thinks he could have won UFC heavyweight title

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle was probably the greatest in-ring technical wrestler that we ever had the privilege of seeing. His power coupled with technical brilliance made him one of the most must-see wrestlers in the WWE back in the 90s and the early 2000s. The reason for his technical brilliance can be attributed to the fact that he was a wrestler who had won an Olympic Gold Medal for the United States in the 1996 Olympics after defeating Iranian wrestler Abbas Jadidi. Despite the fact that he was a great professional wrestler, Angle could have made a seamless transition into MMA if he wanted to.

Angle was speaking to Chris Van Vliet when he was asked if there was any legitimacy to the reports that UFC wanted him during this time in the WWE to which he said, “Yeah but you know, I also knew in the back of my mind, that once I broke my neck the second time, I lost a lot of strength in my upper body. I was having circulation problems from my neck going down my arms. Couldn’t feel my hands. Lost a lot of strength in my arms. I could only bench at the time 135 pounds. So for me to go into the octagon after all that trauma, I don’t think I could’ve done it. Before the broken neck, I would have said hell yeah, it would have been great. I would have had a great run. I probably would have won the world title, you never know. It was more appetizing to me than pro wrestling.

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How many times did Kurt Angle break his neck?

Angle broke his neck a total of five times in his career and four of them occurred during his time in the WWE. The first time he injured his neck was when he was wrestling in the semi-finals of the national trials. He was dropped on his neck by his opponent and as a result, broke his neck. The second time was when he took on Brock Lesnar in 2003. He suffered a third neck break at the hands of the same man Brock Lesnar when he hit Angle with a steel chair.

Kurt broke his neck a fourth time, this time at the hands of the Big Show. The giant chokeslammed the Olympic gold medallist off a ledge and that led to further damage to Kurt’s already damaged neck. His final neck injury happened in 2006 when he faced The Undertaker at No Way Out. He left WWE in 2006 and joined TNA. Angle returned to the WWE after a decade long absence when he was named as manager of Monday Night RAW.