In an interview with FoxSports.com’s Alex Marvez, TNA and IWGP (IGF version) World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle said that he is negotiating with the International Fight League (IFL) and that a shoot fight with Brock Lesnar is unlikely since, according to Angle, Lesnar has signed with UFC.
Angle, who is 38 and who won his Olympic Gold Medal over a decade ago, spoke to Marvez at last night’s IFL team championship finale in Hollywood, FL. He said, “God willing, the IFL and myself can make a deal. The best fit for me right now as a pro wrestler who [works] about 120 times a year is the IFL.”
He said that he would need a year of training before competing in mixed martial arts and that coaching an IFL team while learning from the other fighters is appealing. He would need permission from TNA President Dixie Carter to do so, and that after talking with other MMA organizations, a deal with IFL makes the most sense for him. They would allow him to make TNA his top priority, and since Angle says he has done well financially in his career, it isn’t about the money.
To the naysayers, Angle says, “A lot of fans have been talking smack and saying, ‘What’s Kurt thinking? He can’t do this. There’s no way. He’ll get his butt kicked.’ They don’t know me. They forgot I won a gold medal in the toughest weight class (220 pounds) in the world at the time. … People have never seen my style, which is explosive. I think a lot of heavyweights and light heavyweights won’t expect that.”
