Hall of Famer reveals why he turned down UFC contract extension and moved to WWE, says he earned "triple"
A Hall of Famer recently opened up about the early years of the UFC and revealed why he turned down a contract extension in favor of a move to WWE. The MMA legend explained the difficulties faced by the owners and claimed that the pro wrestling move was a lot more lucrative.
During the early years of the UFC, the promotion dealt with many financial challenges as they were constantly in court fighting legal battles to ensure they were able to host their event. With that in mind, Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock was forced to explore other options when he was re-negotiating a new contract.
During his appearance on Dan Severn's Unleashed podcast, the former Superfight champion noted that he had multiple gyms, his Lion's Den team and his own family to support. Shamrock mentioned that he was forced to decide whether to accept a new deal for the same money or a lucrative move to WWE that would allow him to continue his ventures outside of fighting. He said:
"I had to make a decision of whether or not I was gonna cancel the fighters' house...the group home...and just focus on me...I just looked at it and I felt like I couldn't do that to them...Vince [McMahon] reached out very quickly and things happened very quickly and things happened very fast and he gave me almost triple of what I was going to get in my upcoming guaranteed [UFC] contract." [2:04:37 - 2:06:09]
Check out the full episode with Ken Shamrock below:
UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock discusses why he never feuded with Dan Severn in WWE
Prior to Ronda Rousey's highly publicized transition to pro wrestling, Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn were the first two UFC champions to join WWE.
During the aforementioned appearance, Shamrock discussed why he believes a feud never came to fruition with Severn and mentioned that the company didn't know how to utilize them. He said:
"I heard this many times and I'm starting to believe it, I just don't think they knew what to do with us...You see these guys come in and they're literally playing characters of us...They just didn't understand what they had and I've heard many writers say this that they had a gold mine and they just didn't know what to do with it." [2:10:51 - 2:11:19]
Check out Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn's interaction in WWE below: