Baron Corbin still gets the itch to fight competitively every now and then.
The WWE star spoke on this topic during a recent interview with Fightful, where he reflected on his days playing football and boxing. Corbin tells the publication that once his football career ended he had the opportunity to do MMA, but chose WWE instead.
I know that in the early stages of Ultimate Fighter, I was looking at going and being on the one with Rashad Evans and all those guys, but I had a football scholarship, and I was going to college, so I couldn’t do that. When I was done playing football, I was asked at a table, I was sitting there with a guy who was a manager of a rock and roll band. He’s like, ‘What do you want to do if you’re done playing football?’ I was like, ‘Man, I think I am done. My passion is not there for it.’ He’s like, ‘Do you want to do UFC?’ I said, ‘I either want to do UFC or WWE.
He later says that he was always a big WWE fan, which made his decision to pursue a wrestling career that much easier.
So I’ve always been a massive WWE fan.’ He’s like, ‘I have a connection with WWE. It’s Neil, the music guy. Let me put a call into him, go see if you’d like it.’ Because that was the thing, it was like, I’m either gonna try to fight in the octagon, or I’m gonna go to WWE, and I had the opportunity for WWE first, and then that’s where they’re at.
Corbin was a former Golden Gloves boxer. He wonders if a showdown with Jake Paul would be good for him.
I still get that itch, though. I still am like, man, ‘Should I go try to do like a new NAGA Ju-Jitsu Tournament? Should I try to fight in the Golden Gloves again, or should I try to fight Jake Paul? It’s one of those things.
Elsewhere in the interview, Corbin looked at his career in WWE thus far and how officials recently asked him about a return to NXT. You can read full highlights on that by clicking here.