So Jack Swagger is now going into MMA. He just announced today that he had signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA. The same organization that has Bobby Lashey fighting under. For anybody who doesn't know Bellator is basically WCW to UFC's WWE

www.mmafighting.com/2017/11/13/16645196/bellator-signs-former-wwe-champion-college-wrestling-standout-jake-hager

I can see the headline now " Former WWE star 'CM Punk'd in 32 seconds "

Thanks for posting this, Mr. Canoe.

I'm a pretty big Jack Swagger fan, so I'll be keeping an eye out for this. At the very least, his first fight has to last longer than CM Punk's right?

Swagger holds a win over Cain Velasquez in amateur wrestling(edit- he actually beat him twice). He has the background, he could win some fights.

Nov 14, 2017 10:31:05 GMT NATH45 said:

I can see the headline now " Former WWE star 'CM Punk'd in 32 seconds "

Swagger has a legit background that could transition to MMA nicely and honestly Bellator isn't where the cream of the crop talent are.  Cm Punk on the other hand never had any actual combat sports training, was old as hell to just be starting combat sports and his body was already beat to shit.  So I don't think it would be as horrible for Swagger.  Not saying Swagger is going to come in and just dominate the sport but again, Bellator is where fighters go after they peak in the UFC and hit a decline or guys who aren't really elite top level fighters.  Jack could come in and get some wins for sure.

Punk's flaw was that he had no grappling ability, who knows how he might have fared on the feet, but if you can't grapple in MMA, you're boned.

Punk's other flaw was that he was 39.

Bellator comes across as such cornballs. Good luck to Swagger though, maybe he can have a decent run.

Would it do anything for Swaggers pro wrestling career if he came in and won 2-3 fights?

Nov 18, 2017 21:10:19 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Would it do anything for Swaggers pro wrestling career if he came in and won 2-3 fights?

Probably not. Has it really done much for Lashley's pro wrestling career?

I don't think anyone will ever recapture Brock's magic.

Even UFC legends like Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock couldn't parlay their MMA success into super success in pro wrestling.

You say that, but Dan Severn was NWA Champion for like five years. So he had that going for him.

Nov 18, 2017 22:28:21 GMT KITN said:

You say that, but Dan Severn was NWA Champion for like five years. So he had that going for him.

But holding the NWA title back when he did was probably more harmful to his pro wrestling career than not.

It certainly didn't help with the "Dan Severn, who?!" problem most pro wrestling fans had.

Nov 17, 2017 4:24:11 GMT vendrell said:

Nov 14, 2017 10:31:05 GMT NATH45 said:

I can see the headline now " Former WWE star 'CM Punk'd in 32 seconds "

Swagger has a legit background that could transition to MMA nicely and honestly Bellator isn't where the cream of the crop talent are.  Cm Punk on the other hand never had any actual combat sports training, was old as hell to just be starting combat sports and his body was already beat to shit.  So I don't think it would be as horrible for Swagger.  Not saying Swagger is going to come in and just dominate the sport but again, Bellator is where fighters go after they peak in the UFC and hit a decline or guys who aren't really elite top level fighters.  Jack could come in and get some wins for sure.

That's my thought. Jack has some previous wrestling experience, and is also going to Bellator, which is really like the level below UFC. Punk had no fighting experience (unless you count get the destoryed in a fight by Teddy Hart at a truck stop), and was jumping in to the top level. Swagger is to a college baseball player going to Triple A minor league ball, as Punk was to a guy who never picked up a bat jumping right into face Clayton Kershaw.

Nov 17, 2017 23:44:00 GMT RagnarokMike said:

Punk's flaw was that he had no grappling ability, who knows how he might have fared on the feet, but if you can't grapple in MMA, you're boned.

I know how he would have fared...horribly.  Short of UFC just lobbing him a few softball cab drivers to build him up, he wasn't ever going to beat anybody we have ever heard of on the feet or on the ground.