Jake Hager Claims He Was Close to Facing Legendary MMA Fighter

Jake Hager has been a part of AEW television since the very first episode of Dynamite, but he also has a legitimate MMA track record. In fact, Hager has now claimed that he was close to facing a legendary MMA fighter.

Jake Hager has a positive record of 3-0-1 in MMA, where he competed at Bellator. Hager has not had a fight since Bellator 250 in October of 2020 and he ended up focusing on his pro wrestling career instead.

Jake Hager previously stated that he was hoping to get back into the cage sometime in 2022 and even had fight scheduled for October that year, but that didn’t happen either.

During his tenure at Bellator, Jake Hager didn’t engage in fights against prominent opponents. However, he expressed a desire to compete against legendary fighter Fedor Emelianenko.

While speaking to Monopoly Events, Jake Hager revealed that Bellator was working on make a fight between himself and legendary fighter Fedor Emelianenko happen, but it never materialized.

”From the moment that I got to Bellator, I knew that it could happen. Bellator was working for it to happen. Can you imagine the All American American fighting Fedor in Moscow. It’s Rocky. I really felt like it was my fight. They gave it to a very deserving ranked heavyweight. Fedor was on fire that night. He didn’t look old at all. He was quick, he was strong, it was an impressive showing. Maybe I got lucky that they didn’t pick me. I would have taken it in a heartbeat.”

Jake Hager announced his retirement from MMA last year, so there is no chance of the fight happening ever again. We will have to wait and see whether AEW will have anything major planned for Hager, as that also seems unlikely now.

Are you disappointed the fight never happened? Let us know in the comments section below!