Jake Hager isn’t afraid of anyone.
A former standout wrestler at the University of Oklahoma, Hager is now trying his hand at MMA after a successful run in the WWE as “Jack Swagger.”
The 36-year-old signed with Bellator MMA earlier this year, but his official debut has yet to be announced. He recently appeared on an episode of “Submission Radio” to discuss Brock Lesnar and his future.
Hager was asked if the two were to ever wrestle amateur-style, what would happen?
“By compare wrestling techniques you mean that I can take Brock Lesnar down at will? Yes, then we compared wrestling techniques,” he said. “I could close my eyes and tie one hand behind my back and I could bounce Brock Lesnar’s forehead off the mat if he ever, ever tried to wrestle with me (laughs).”
When he was in the WWE, Hager had to implore those wrestling skills on a handful of occasions to teach a lesson.
“Oh yeah, absolutely. Sometimes the amateur wrestling doesn’t send the right message,” he said. “Like, if you squeeze someone down and put the clamps on and they’re still like squirming a little bit, sometimes you just gotta use the old right hand to get them to calm down. You can ask Cesaro about this. I’m friends with Brodus Clay, but we were tagging with him on Raw one day and he just wasn’t getting the message. And like, Cesaro was hitting him pretty hard and tagged me in, and I started hitting him hard and he still wasn’t getting the message. So me and Tony just kind of looked at each other, and I mean, I hit him with everything I had and I’m pretty sure he went down (laughs).”
As for his possible debut, Hager was hoping to make two appearances inside the cage, but a trip to Lucha Underground will likely limit that to one fight in either “November, December.”
“Yeah, I think I absolutely will fight in 2018. It’s too late now to fight twice in 2018,” Hager said. “I got real busy with professional wrestling with Lucha Underground back at the beginning of the year. Bellator’s been great to work with. They allowed me to do that and continue making a name for myself outside the octagon, which just goes for miles and miles for someone that I want to work with. You know, it really means a lot when they make it easy and they make you feel like you’re wanted there.
“In my mind, I’m gonna fight at the end of 2018. I’m gonna make a statement and then in a couple of months I’m gonna fight again since I’m already in the shape, I’ve already got the camp going.”
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