Angle, even if he wanted to fight in the Bellator cage, has one more obstacle to overcome, one that has defeated him before: the dreaded physical. Back in 2010, he tried to join the heavyweight season of The Ultimate Fighter, but couldn't get cleared, according to UFC President Dana White. Over the years, Angle has piled up injury after injury including several career-threatening neck injuries which would have felled a lesser man. That's admirable, but there's a limit to what the body can take. And this issue may well keep him from ever competing. Now, Bellator, unlike the UFC, tends to run a lot of events in smaller territories, where athletic commissions are inexperienced at best. Angle probably won't be fighting in Las Vegas under the NSAC, for example, if he does fight. So that might work in his favour, but there's a good chance that he could fail to get clearance from even the most small-time of athletic bodies, given his history. It's hard to gauge how serious Angle is about all this. He's taking a sabbatical from pro wrestling, and MMA is his dream. Can he make the jump? That will be interesting to see.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
