Former WWE Superstar Jake Hager (Jack Swagger) is gearing up for his first professional Mixed Martial Arts fight. He recently spoke with the Tampa Bay Times about his upcoming debut, which takes place on January 26th at Bellator 214 from Inglewood, California.
Swagger joins the list of pro wrestlers to make the jump to MMA that includes Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and Bobby Lashley. In speaking with TampaBay.com, Swagger said he plans to harness his star power from WWE to advance himself in this new arena.
“”I have a lot of experience with the lights on bright — a lot of people watching and performing on live television,” he said. “One of the best pieces of advice I ever got in professional wrestling was use the exposure from cable’s number one rated television show to transition and move on to what you want to go into next.”
Prior to his WWE run, Swagger was an All-American collegiate wrestler at the University of Oklahoma. His grappling background will come in handy on the 26th, but he’s been training jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and boxing.
“This isn’t only amateur wrestling,” Hager said. “It’s mixed martial arts. There are many disciplines I need to be good at. But I’m ready.”
Bellator 214 airs on the Paramount Network Saturday night at 9:00 PM EST. The main event of the show will see Fedor Emelianenko and Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Ryan Bader square off the the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
Visit our partner site MMANews.com for more news from the world of Mixed Martial Arts.
Here comes The Rooster.. @bellatormma @joshraff_ @awesome_joeyb @robsboxing4fitness #bellator #mma #fight #training #jujitsu #kickboxing #boxing #wrestling #prowrestling #wwe #wethepeople #fitness #fitspo pic.twitter.com/mdd4WSuDEm
— Jake Hager (@RealJakeHager) December 4, 2018