You'd be forgiven for thinking that there's nothing The Rock can't do.
After playing American football in college for the Miami Hurricanes, becoming arguably the most popular wrestler ever, and going on to establish himself as one of the very biggest stars in Hollywood, Dwayne's done alright for himself pretty much whenever he tried something. Due to the fact he's an absolute beast, anything involving athleticism and entertaining people tends to make him look good.
He draws the line, however, at mixed martial arts. Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast [via muscleandfitness.com] The Rock admitted that he gave some serious thought to the idea of taking time out, focusing on training with an elite coach, and making a go of becoming an MMA fighter and reaching the UFC.
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 thought, oh well maybe UFC.
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.
Yup, I considered @ufc 10yrs ago. My goal was @GregJacksonMMA as my coach & 2 full yrs to train. Smartened up 'cause I prefer my jaw in tact https://t.co/p0Yn9n7MGq
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 23, 2017
Now that would have been something. Could you imagine him talking shit about his opponents and calling them 'candy asses' and 'jabronis', and then actually fighting at the end of it? We missed out.
While CM Punk was a very high profile example of what can go wrong when someone with absolutely no MMA background decides they want to become a fighter in a few years, but The Rock? He's one hell of an athlete, and with Greg Jackson in his corner it would have been interesting to see if he could have done anything at heavyweight in the UFC.
The publicity his MMA debut would have received is crazy to think of, but it's very clear that he made the right choice as his acting career has gone from strength to strength, and he's even flirting with the idea of being president of the United States one day.
Don't scoff at that idea, you never know.
[via muscleandfitness.com]
