Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger’s (Jake Hager) MMA debut has been confirmed for the Bellator 214 event on January 26 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Swagger will face JW Kiser in his MMA debut. Kiser reportedly has a record of 1 win and 1 loss but some MMA standings websites have him listed at 0-1.
Swagger, who was officially released from WWE in March 2017, later announced that November that he planned on getting into MMA. He had planned on debuting in 2018 but now his first fight has been confirmed for early 2019.
The 36 year old Swagger revealed the big news while talking to Ariel Helwani on his show. Swagger has one more indie wrestling date to work this coming weekend but after that he will go into a full-time MMA training camp.
Swagger also revealed that he’s talked with Bobby Lashley and King Mo about working pro wrestling and MMA. He also indicated that he may try and fight under the Jack Swagger name, but he will be billed as Jake Hager “until other filings happen” that make the other name possible.
It looks like Swagger’s fight will take place on the Bellator 214 main card, which airs on Paramount. That card will be headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ryan Bader for the vacant Heavyweight Title.
