Kurt Angle wanted to work with UFC in 2006 while under contract with TNA. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards.

While speaking to The True Geordie, Angle looked back on negotiations with the promotion, starting with the initial offer that was made after he won his gold medal.

“I don’t know if I would have been champion, but I definitely would have joined the UFC. I would have signed with them. 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. Back then, it was for UFC. Those guys were only getting $5,000 for a fight. If they won the whole tournament, they got $50,000. That was it. So the contract wasn’t so bad back then, but what it is now today, these guys are getting $16-18 million a fight on pay-per-view now. Conor McGregor and Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey. So I passed on it, and I started wrestling in 1998 with WWE, and by 2000, UFC started becoming mainstream. I was like, man, I’d love to do that. Then what happened was, literally half a year later, I broke my neck again, and that was it. When I broke my neck again, I lost all my strength in my arms. I lost feeling in my hands. To this day, I have no feeling in my pinky fingers and my pointer fingers. So I have a lot of neck damage, and it caused me to lose a lot of strength in my upper body. So there was no way, even though I entertained it in 2006.”

Angle continued, detailing the negotiations that took place in 2006. With the UFC looking to boost the roster of The Ultimate Fighter that year, Angle was offered a paid deal to appear on the show, something that was not common practice. While he had interest, Angle would have to turn down the offer due to signing his deal with TNA.

” I went to Dana White in 2006 and said, ‘Hey, I’m ready.’ He’s like, okay, this is what we’re gonna do. He offered me a deal. He wanted me to be on The Ultimate Fighter with Kimbo Slice. 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.’ But he said l, ‘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 IMPACT Wrestling/TNA a week prior. I thought that I could do both, which was crazy, it was stupid. But TNA was gonna give me a part-time contract, so I figured I could train UFC as well. So I told Dana, ‘I just signed with TNA. Can I do both?’ He said, ‘No, you can’t do both.’ I said, ‘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.’ So I had to pass on the UFC because they wouldn’t allow me to do both, and I just signed with TNA, and I didn’t want to tell TNA, ‘Listen, I’m not coming, I’m gonna go with UFC.’ Because I just signed a deal.”

H/T Colin Tessier & Corey Brennan.

Full interview:

Kurt Angle debuted with TNA Wrestling in October 2006, where he became the inaugural and record six-time TNA World Champion, and the second Triple Crown winner in TNA history (as well as the only one to hold all required titles at once). 

Kurt’s last match in TNA was a loss against Lashley as part of the company’s TNA UK tour. It aired on 3/8/16 on POP TV. Kurt had lost the TNA World Title to Ethan Carter III (EC3) on the 7/1/15 episode, which aired on Destination America TV.

Kurt previously spoke about how he felt his booking was ”questionable” during his time in TNA.

Make sure you watch all the stars of IMPACT WRESTLING EVERY Thursday!

-IMPACT Plus App
-AXSTV in USA
-Fight Network in CANADA

-DAZN for international fans sign up here (includes BTI pre-show, weekly IMPACTonAXSTV episode, LIVE monthly specials, 4 flagship PPVs, + footage from the library)

-Become a YouTube Insider HERE and subscribe.

• Insider is $1.49/month. (includes weekly show)
• Ultimate Insider is $6.99/month. (includes weekly show w/ live chat, exclusive series, live monthly specials, and old content)

#IMPACTonAXSTV

Follow Gerard at @BearDown316 on Twitter

If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.

You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel,  or any of your favorite podcast platforms.

Be sure to check out Bodyslam.Net for all of your pro wrestling and MMA news!