The Rock Explains Why He Nearly Became A UFC Fighter

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Hollywood superstar, former WWE champ, fitness fanatic and all around great guy – it must be pretty sweet being Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

He started out as a college football player, then followed in his grandfather and father’s footsteps and made the move into professional wrestling to become the ‘People’s Champion’, before making the switch to film.

However, it could have all been very different for ‘The Great One’, as he’s revealed that he very nearly stepped into the UFC Octagon, MMA Fighting reports.

The Rock revealed that he seriously considered transitioning into mixed martial arts about a decade ago. He’d left the WWE in 2004 to pursue a full-time movie career but it wasn’t going as well as he hoped, so he considered other options.

Speaking to comedian Jim Norton and Matt Serra on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, he said:

There was a time there where I thought, man, I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in WWE, my movie career is floundering a little bit, what do I do?

I was relatively still young, I think I was 34. I thought, oh well maybe UFC. Maybe I should do something like that.

In the end, he decided against making the switch – and given that he’s now the highest grossing actor in Hollywood, we reckon he probably made the right decision, as much as we would have loved to see how he would have got on inside the cage.

He added:

In my head, I felt like it was at least a two-year process for me to even get in the [cage], let alone the UFC. I wasn’t quite too sure what to do or what kind of people to put around me at the time, so the idea kind of fizzled out and I continued to stay on the path of movie making.

Anybody, by the way, who is successful in one area and then commits to MMA, I just feel like it’s the toughest fucking sport in the world. I always take my hat off to those guys. Still a big fan and love the sport. But at one time, I did consider it.

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Given the success of massive PPV draw Brock Lesnar and all the media attention surrounding CM Punk’s Octagon debut, we reckon Dana White and co. must be pretty gutted that The Rock decided against making the switch.

UNILAD