UFC was "open" to a former AEW World Champion, he confirms

The AEW World Championship is the most important title in the company. It is currently held by Jon Moxley. Over the years, it has been captured by popular names, such as Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, MJF, "Hangman" Adam Page, and more.

One of the most ferocious former AEW World Champions is Samoa Joe. He held the title for 113 days. The Samoan Submission Machine is known for his remarkable in-ring skills and agility.

In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Joe revealed that he was once open to pursuing a career in UFC. However, his primary goal was to entertain people, and that was why he stuck to professional wrestling.

"It [UFC] was open to me, but probably not. I’m an entertainer by trade, I understand how people view me as a wrestler and my style and stuff, but at my heart, I grew up in show business and I’m about entertaining people, and that really was my goal with this was not to be a bada**, but to go out there and make people happy and having a good night at the wrestling show," said Samoa Joe. [H/T: chrisvanvliet.com]

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AEW star Samoa Joe is a huge fan of martial arts

In the same interview with Chris Van Vliet, Samoa Joe opened up about his love for martial arts. The AEW star said that he practices it to this day and has also implemented some of it in wrestling. Joe added that integrating MMA into his in-ring work helped him stand apart.

"I love martial arts, and to this day I still practice and still train and it was something I enjoyed. I love studying the art of it and understanding the concepts behind it. I just took stuff that I enjoyed and I tried to integrate it into my work." [H/T: chrisvanvliet.com]

Samoa Joe has big goals for 2025. The Opps faction (Joe, HOOK, and Katsuyori Shibata) will likely aim to challenge for the AEW World Trios Championship soon.