This AEW star, WWE alum and Sooner great returns to Bellator MMA cage on Thursday

After a year away from the cage, two-sport professional Jake Hager returns to MMA competition Thursday.

The 6-7, 245-pound Hager (2-0, 1 NC) fights 6-5, 275-pound Brandon “Bone Crusher” Calton (2-0) in a heavyweight bout during Bellator 250 on Thursday on CBS Sports Network.

This marks Hager’s fourth bout in a six-fight deal with Bellator. The action occurs from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Hager, 38, of Perry, Oklahoma, is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he played football and excelled in wrestling, earning All-American honors. He obtained a degree in finance. He transitioned very well to professional wrestling, starring for Lucha Underground and most notably WWE.

Currently, Hager is with All Elite Wrestling as a key member of the Inner Circle, aligned with Santana and Ortiz, Sammy Guevara and the great Chris Jericho. AEW airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on TNT.

Here is my audio interview with Jake Hager.

Calton, 40, is a graduate of East Tennessee State University, where he played football and earned a degree in criminology. The former defensive lineman is from Pennington Gap, Virginia.

Hager and his wife, Catalina White, live in Tampa with their two children. Catalina is from Fort Lauderdale, a graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School and the University of Buffalo.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealJakeHager

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjakehager/

Web: http://www.bellator.com/fighters/9f4064/jake-hager

Merch: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/mma-fighter/jake-hager.html

Pro Wrestling and Pro MMA success

Setting the bar, they excelled in professional wrestling and professional MMA.

“The Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar

“World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock

“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey

Dan “The Beast” Severn

Bobby Lashley

Bellator 250

Bellator 250 is Thursday live on CBS Sports Network from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The main card is 8 p.m. Thursday.

Preliminaries start at 5:15 p.m. on Bellator’s YouTube Channel, DAZN and CBSSports.com.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/10/pro-wrestling-star-jake-hager-books-mma-return-for-bellator-250-on-oct-29

https://www.si.com/wrestling/2020/04/15/aew-jake-hager-jon-moxley-title-picture

Bellator Socially Acceptable

Website: http://www.bellator.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BellatorMMA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellatorMMA/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BellatorMMA

My Pro Wrestling and MMA Talk on the Web and Social Media

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This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 3:52 PM.

Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

305-376-3621

Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription