5 Reasons Kurt Angle Could Jump To MMA (And 5 Reasons It Won't Happen)

3. There's Ample Money All Around

Money is a huge factor here. Financially, Kurt Angle to Bellator MMA has to make sense for everyone involved, and it will. First, let's look at it from the Bellator/Viacom side: Bellator, outside of their lone PPV event, airs exclusively on Spike TV and Spike.com (prelims on the website, main cards on the cable channel). What they care about is ratings - eyeballs, especially in the coveted 18-49 demo. Lashley generally does pretty well ratings wise thanks to his wrestling fanbase. Old names like Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz have done big business as well. And Kimbo Slice, of all people, has given Bellator their biggest numbers to date, with 2.1 million viewers tuning in to watch him knock out Ken Shamrock. There's no way Kurt Angle's MMA debut would do less than a million viewers, and it would likely have a shot at the two million mark, so it would make sense for Bellator to bring him in. On the flip side, there would be plenty of dollars headed Angle's way were he to make the jump. Tito Ortiz is making $300,000 per fight for Bellator right now, and Angle's salary would likely be in that range if not more. Keep in mind that any fight bonuses, sponsorships, and so forth would be on top of that. While there's the cost of a training camp, that's still a lot of money for Angle, who was reportedly making $500,000 for TNA last year. Realistically, if Angle were to fight twice, he could pocket somewhere around a million dollars depending on sponsorship deals.