MMA superstar Chris Bungard admits it will be a ‘bucket list’ moment when he makes his professional wrestling debut at ICW’s Fear and Loathing weekend.
Celtic and Rangers football banter has led Bungard to being paired up with ’Gers fan Jason Reed at the Barrowlands Ballroom on Saturday, November 20, and the Holytown grappler says he can’t wait for the event.
But while he says ‘never say never’, Bungard still considers himself as an MMA fighter, and wrestling – at the moment – is a side project.
He said: “I used to go to the ICW events, and I’m quite pally with Mark Dallas, the owner.
“Myself and Jason have had a wee bit of back-and-forth for a while now, through the Celtic and Rangers thing and social media, blah, blah, blah, and they approached me to see if I wanted to get involved.
“They said there was a match at the Barrowlands with Jason, and I just jumped on it, really.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for my full life, so this is the best time for it.
“I’ve been a wrestler for my full life and I’d probably say I wanted to be a wrestler before I was an MMA fighter.
“The build-up has been good; it’s in the Barrowlands, and it’s one of my favourite venues in the full world, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m enjoying it, and I’m definitely enjoying the back-and-forth between the two of us – we’ve got good chemistry.
“We’ve got the football, which gets involved so it’s good, and I can’t wait to get in there and perform.”
Bungard added: “I think I’m going to shock a few people with just how good I am in the ring.
“There’s a big crowd, tickets have been doing well. They’re doing two nights, the Saturday and the Sunday, but we’re the Saturday, which is apparently doing very well in ticket sales.
“It will be good to perform in front of a good audience, and the Scottish wrestling crowd are a bit mad, so I’m all for it.”
Bungard (left) says he’s doing everything he can to get a match-up in MMA, but for now he’s looking forward to his bout at the Barras.
“I’ve had a few fights break down in Canada, Prague, and one in Scotland, so I’m trying my hardest to get another fight before the year’s out,” Bungard added.
“But the whole Covid thing, vaccine passports with my team and stuff like that is breaking that down.
“So we’ll get this done; it has been a dream for my whole life – a bucket list thing – so we’ll see how it is, if I’m any good.
“We’ll need to see how it goes, how it looks on TV and stuff like that, but I don’t know, it could be my future, I could want to make a run for the ICW belt.
“They’re on the WWE network and stuff like that, so it’s a wide audience and it’s something I love doing.
“It’s tough as well, it’s not easy. It’s a proper work-out as well, and I’m still learning, so it’s all pretty new.
“But I’m still an MMA fighter, I’m still looking to fight right now – I’m still training twice, three times a day in MMA.
“So this is just a wee side-part just now until I get matched in MMA again.”
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