WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan claims he was asked to participate in the first ever UFC tournament back in 1993.
The first UFC event took place Nov. 1993, just a few months after Hogan had left the WWE, then known as the WWF.
Hogan told the Herald Sun, in Melbourne, that he turned down the offer to compete in the UFC.
We looked at it and it was very violent and the referees weren’t stopping the matches and letting guys get beat up when they should have been stopped. So we just didn’t want to have any part of it but it’s become quite a phenomena.
Campbell McLaren, one of the co-creators of the UFC, said Hogan was never offered an opportunity to compete at the inaugural UFC event.
.@SeanRossSapp @ArtDavie @HeymanHustle I call BULLSHIT on Hulk Hogan. I never wanted him in #originalUFC. Who did he talk to? not me.
— Campbell McLaren (@campbellcombate) May 4, 2015
Hogan was the most recognizable professional wrestler in the 1980s and for most of the 1990s. While Hogan may or may not have been offered an opportunity in the UFC, the promotion has offered fights to other former WWE champions.
Brock Lesnar was a former WWE star before entering the UFC. He went on to win the heavyweight title, and to this day is considered one of the best heavyweights in the history of the promotion.
Last year, former WWE star CM Punk made his MMA and UFC debut at UFC 203. Punk was submitted in the first round of his fight by Mickey Gall.
