Inner Circle member Jake Hager thinks AEW World Champion Jon Moxley has what it takes to be a successful MMA fighter.
Hager knows a thing or two about success inside the fighting cage. The former WWE World Heavyweight champion has a 2-0 record in mixed martial arts. He fights again this Thursday night against Brandon Calton (also 2-0) at Bellator 250.
The ‘Big Hurt’ spoke with MMANews.com this week to promote the fight. When asked which AEW star he thinks could cross over to MMA, he named Moxley. Hager and Moxley fought for the AEW World Championship in an ‘Empty Arena No Holds Barred Match’ on the April 15th edition of Dynamite.
“I know after wrestling him for that [AEW] championship, for 43 minutes in front of no audience, in the Florida heat, that man has what it takes to go five rounds,” said Hager. “He’s trained just a little bit and I think he’s a natural for (MMA). He definitely has that I don’t care attitude, and I’m ready to fight.”
The respect between Hager and Moxley is mutual. We conducted an exclusive interview with Jon Moxley back in July and he spoke extensively about their No Holds Barred Empty Arena match. Moxley recalls the two of them “beating the absolute hell out of each other.”
“I worked myself up to a point where I think ‘I really hate this guy and I really want to go out there and hurt him.’ So, I guess it’s similar in that way to a movie. You got to bring the energy from within. And then that match, add that nice Florida humidity, and I broke a nice little sweat. I got into a groove, just kind of free flowing and wrestling. And we beat the absolute hell out of each other and it was quite fun.”
Check our full interview with AEW World Champion Jon Moxley below:
