Shinsuke Nakamura Shoots On Almost Fighting In UFC

TheSportster

By Paul Jackiewicz

Published Aug 28, 2017

Aside from being one of the best wrestlers on the planet, Shinsuke Nakamura also has shoot credentials, and Dana White took notice.

WWE wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura revealed something very interesting during a recent interview with The Hindustan Times.

It turns out that Nakamura turned down an opportunity to fight in the UFC back in 2005. He's an experienced fighter who has an overall record of 3-1. Nakamura says the offer from the UFC came about 12 years ago and that he felt the best move for him was to stay in wrestling and work hard to further his career.

“Around 2005, UFC offered me a chance to fight for them. But, at that moment, I was under contract with NJPW and I decided to stay in pro-wrestling. It was a good opportunity, but I don’t regret my choice," said Nakamura, via 411 Mania.

Don't expect Nakamura to get back into the octagon anytime soon.

“You have to understand that I am 37-year old now. It has been a long time since my last proper MMA training and although I still train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it will take me at least one year to be ready for a proper fight. That is not something I want to do as I am happy in WWE.”

Wrestling in the WWE isn't easy, but fighting in the UFC is absolutely brutal. So we don't blame Nakamura for sticking to his current craft.

We'd have to imagine that Nakamura also has a better opportunity to make more money in the WWE instead of as a UFC fighter where it seems that president Dana White isn't interested in rewarding his fighters as much as some would like. Wrestlers like Ken Shamrock, CM Punk, Brock Lesner have all fought in the UFC.

Wrestlers like Ken Shamrock, CM Punk, and Brock Lesner have all fought in the UFC, with Lesner having the most success, winning UFC Heavyweight Champion at one point, but given the fact that Nakamura is 37 years-old now, getting back into MMA just doesn't make sense.

Nakamura was born in Japan and currently resides in Orlando. He made his pro wrestling debut back in 2002 in the New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Nakamura ended up challenging Brock Lesner to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2006 but ended up losing.

Nakamura stuck around in Japan for quite some before heading over the United States to take part in the WWE's NXT TakeOver: Dallas event. He ended up winning the NXT Championship twice during his one year there before being added to the WWE's main roster.

After plenty of hard work, Nakamura finally made his WWE main roster debut in April 2017 on Smackdown Live. He defeated Dolph Ziggler in his first match. Nakamura was given the chance to defeat Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship after he beat John Cena. But unfortunately, he ended up losing to Mahal.