4 reasons why you need to watch Bellator 214: Fedor vs Bader

#3 Jack Swagger is making his MMA debut

How much success can former WWE champ Jake Hager - AKA Jack Swagger - have in MMA?

MMA and pro-wrestling have always gone quietly hand-in-hand, whether it’s wrestlers copying MMA submission holds, or MMA fighters looking to emulate the trash-talking promos of the larger-than-life wrestlers. That’s why it’s so fascinating when athletes from one side of the fence decide to jump to the other side. The mixed results we tend to see make it more fascinating still.

In terms of wrestlers moving into MMA in recent years, we’ve seen Brock Lesnar go all the way to the UFC Heavyweight title and Bobby Lashley carve out a solid run for himself in StrikeForce, but then we also saw CM Punk absolutely crash and burn in the UFC in two awful fights.

Bellator 214 though will see the debut of Jake Hager – formerly known as WWE superstar Jack Swagger – and there’s an argument to be made either way for how well he’ll do.

On the positive side, unlike Punk, Hager is coming from a legitimate athletic background. He was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler out of Oklahoma University in his youth – and while he didn’t win the NCAA title like Lesnar did, anyone with that kind of wrestling background is usually going to be a difficult opponent in the world of MMA.

On the negative side, however, Hager is already 36 years old and has been wrestling with WWE and their developmental promotions for well over a decade. That means he’s likely already banged up and has probably suffered numerous injuries and potentially concussions too.

Let’s not beat around the bush; Hager should win his debut given the fact that he’s been matched with the unknown JW Kiser, who sports a 0-1 professional MMA record. But how good Hager looks in his likely win could tell us a lot about how successful he’ll be going forward – and that makes his fight a must-see.