Jake Hager, Jack Swagger

Jack Swagger announces Bellator MMA debut

Jake Hager, better known as “Jack Swagger” from his days in pro wrestling has an official date for his MMA debut. Hager announced on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that his Bellator debut has been scheduled and he’s going to make it on one of the biggest events in Bellator’s early 2019 schedule.

Hager announced that he will be on Bellator 214’s main card when he takes on J.W. Kiser for his official pro MMA debut. Coming approximately 14 months after initially signing with Bellator, Hager will step inside the cage to face Kiser on the same night as Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix final which will see Ryan Bader vs Fedor Emelianenko for the title.

Kiser is 0-1 in his professional MMA career, suffering a first-round loss in back in May of 2018 while fighting at KCFA 28.

In his collegiate wrestling career, Hager was an All-American in 2006 during his time at the University of Oklahoma and then moved to professional wrestling where he started off with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2006 under their developmental program. Hager would remain with the WWE until March of 2017 when he was granted with his release. During his time with the WWE, Hager was the ECW champion, World Heavyweight champion, and United States champion.

Bellator President Scott Coker confirmed the news of Hager’s debut with a tweet on Monday.

Bellator 214’s main card is yet to be finalized but will feature two title fights including the Heavyweight Grand Prix final.

  • Ryan Bader vs Fedor Emelianenko for the Heavyweight title
  • Gegard Mousasi (champion) vs Rafael Lovato Jr for the middleweight title
  • Aaron Pico vs Henry Corrales
  • Jake Hager vs J.W. Kiser

Bellator 214 will take place at The Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday, January 26 2019 with the main card beginning at 9pm EST. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Bellator 214 will take place on the same night as UFC 233 which is scheduled to go down in Anaheim, California and features bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw challenging Henry Cejudo for the flyweight title.

Official announcement by Bellator of the fight.

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Mike Pendleton
Mike Pendleton is a current contributor to MyMMANews while also hosting his "On The Mic" podcast and is a former Associate Producer at Sirius XM's Fight Nation. With a special passion for interviewing and talking to the very best around the fight game, you can read or listen to Mike's work across his multiple outlets. Follow me on Twitter: @MP2310