The Rock Once Considered A Second Career As A UFC Fighter

We all know that pop-culture juggernaut Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is an incredible athlete. The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion got his start playing football before breaking through a bout of depression and making the decision to follow in his father’s pro-wrestling footsteps. What most don’t know is that he almost considered a second career in mixed-martial arts.

The Rock called into the UFC Unfiltered podcast to promote his latest movie, Central Intelligence. There he revealed that before he became the world’s top international superstar, he considered jumping into the world of getting punched in the face for real:

“There was a time there where I thought, man, I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in WWE, my movie career is floundering a little bit, what do I do? I was relatively still young, I think I was 34. I thought, oh well maybe UFC. Maybe I should do something like that.”

Luckily for him (and every every studio making bank from his films), a UFC career just never came together:

“In my head, I felt like it was at least a two-year process for me to even get in the [cage], let alone the UFC. I wasn’t quite too sure what to do or what kind of people to put around me at the time, so the idea kind of fizzled out and I continued to stay on the path of movie making.”

Well, that, and much like most people, he doesn’t enjoy that whole getting hit aspect:

Can you imagine what could have happened if someone messed with that mug and stalled his charge to blowing up box offices and your mom’s deepest fantasies? Even though he never joined the list of pro wrestlers who made crossover attempts The Rock remains a UFC fan. He also recently expressed his excitement for former WWE opponent CM Punk’s debut at UFC 203:

You know, if it actually happens.

(h/t  MMA Fighting)