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AEW's Jake Hager says he is 'officially' retired from MMA

Posted: Sep 21st 2023 By: Josh Nason

Current AEW wrestler and former WWE World Champion Jake Hager has retired from MMA.

Hager revealed the news during a virtual signing on Tuesday while alluding to some displeasure with Bellator MMA which is where he was under contract.

"Officially, I’m retired from MMA. I trained hard last year, but Bellator was jerking me off. I retired and I am now just focusing on wrestling," he said.

The 41-year-old retires with a 3-0-1 record, all in the Bellator cage.

He started his run in 2019 with two straight first round submission wins but then tallied a no contest in the same year due to repeated accidental groin strikes that rendered his opponent unable to continue. He returned with a split decision win in late-2020 and never fought again.

In July of 2022, the standout amateur wrestler at the University of Oklahoma said he wanted to fight twice that year and claimed he had a fight on the books for October but that never came to be.

Hager has wrestled sparingly on AEW TV this year, last competing in a battle royal at September's All Out which was preceded by his appearance in the Royal Rampage in July. His last singles match in the company was in June.

In September of 2022, Chris Jericho said Hager had signed a contract extension with AEW.