After leaving World Wrestling Entertainment in 2017, the former Oklahoma wrestler decided to turn his attention toward MMA, where he almost immediately signed with Bellator. While he’d been devoted to pro-wrestling for quite some time, Hager felt like the window to test himself in combat sports was probably closing. It was now or never to pursue another athletic interest.
Thus far, Hager’s experiment has paid off. So far, he’s earned 2-0 record with both wins coming by way of first-round submission. His third fight is scheduled for Friday night at Bellator 231 in Connecticut.
In the midst of fight preparation, Hager inked a deal to join the ranks at All-Elite Wrestling (AEW)—a new upstart pro-wrestling promotion with a weekly show on TNT.