Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Jake Hager has been looking for a fight for quite some time.
For years, Hager was a sports entertainer under the WWE banner as Jack Swagger. The University of Oklahoma standout had some early success. He captured the ECW and World Heavyweight championships in less than two years on the main roster.
Things took a turn as Hager was mostly seen as a midcard talent. Towards the end of his WWE run, he was rarely seen on television. Now that he’s free from the company, Hager has signed with Bellator.
Hager does have a background in wrestling. He holds the single season record for most pins in the 285-pound division at the University of Oklahoma. With those credentials, Hager felt he always had a chance at being a solid mixed martial artist.
In fact, he claims to have pitched an actual shoot fight to WWE officials (via MMAFighting.com):
“For the longest time there, I felt like I was literally the toughest guy in the locker room. Yet, I would go out there and have two-minute matches with guys that couldn’t hold my jock. It even got to the point where I pitched to them, I was like, ‘Look, I got something to prove. You guys are a great platform. Let me prove it. Pick the fighter — I’ll fight anybody. Put them on your show and I’ll fight them.’ They didn’t really want to go down that route.”
