When WWE superstar Brock Lesnar announced that he was returning to the UFC for a one-time fight at UFC 200 , it came as a surprise. For one thing, the WWE and UFC have never had a great relationship, as the UFC has always looked down on professional wrestling in general. However, Brock Lesnar fought in the UFC before and was a heavyweight champion his last time around. When it comes to this fight, Fox Sports reported that Lesnar said it is just to have fun .
“The last few fights that I had, they just weren’t fun, anymore. I want to get back and reclaim my loss to my illness, and just to have fun.”
The illness that ended the last Brock Lesnar UFC run was diverticulitis, and it almost killed him. Over his MMA career, Lesnar was 5-3, and seven of those fights were in the UFC. He opened his UFC career with a loss to Frank Mir and then beat Heath Herring in his second fight before getting the title shot and beating Randy Couture in only his third UFC fight. Lesnar then got revenge on his loss to Mir by beating him in his first title defense.
That is when the Brock Lesnar UFC run hit its first roadblock. Lesnar was suffering from mononucleosis and had to postpone a title defense to Shane Carwin. Doctors soon realized that Brock had diverticulitis and required surgery. Brock lost a lot of weight and his life was in great danger, but he returned instead.
Brock Lesnar fights this coming weekend, so here’s something on that. https://t.co/U1OzFC0t6Q
— Chuck Mindenhall (@ChuckMindenhall) July 4, 2016
While the Brock Lesnar UFC career should have ended when the diverticulitis was discovered, he wanted to fight more. He won his return match against Carwin, enjoyed his first submission victory, and tied the record for most successful heavyweight title defenses.
After that, the end of the Brock Lesnar UFC run started. With the weight loss and pain from the diverticulitis, Lesnar just wasn’t the same as he was before and lost to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121, dropping his title. His diverticulitis returned after that fight and he had to pull out of his next fight after having a large part of his colon removed. He lost his only other fight, this one to Alistair Overeem, and left the UFC.
Brock Lesnar undecided on his fighting future after #UFC200 https://t.co/gqeY5imqJ9 #UFC pic.twitter.com/ojw6JSNJvF
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 4, 2016
With those two losses ending the Brock Lesnar UFC career, it makes sense that the Inquisitr previously reported that the WWE is leery of promoting and supporting the Lesnar return. If Brock loses again, it could really hurt his value to the WWE. It doesn’t seem to bother Lesnar, though, as Wrestle Zone reported that Lesnar admitted to not caring what Stephanie McMahon said about his UFC fight, nor caring about his standing and reputation when it comes to the WWE.
While Brock Lesnar said that the opinion of fans is important, he feels that doing what makes him happy is more important. At this time, that is the Brock Lesnar UFC return.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ergWyNhKU20
Of course, someone else who doesn’t seem to care about the Brock Lesnar UFC return is his opponent at UFC 200 , Mark Hunt, who believes that Lesnar got a free pass from months of drug testing and said that he feels Brock juiced leading into the announcement to get back up to weight. Hunt doesn’t believe that it matters too much because he plans to knock “his head off in that Octagon.”
Mark Hunt comes into the Brock Lesnar UFC return fight with a record of 12-10-1. He is coming off two high-profile wins over Frank Mir by knockout and Antonio Silva by TKO. Since entering the UFC, Hunt is 7-4-1, and he will look at continuing to make his name with this fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 on July 9.
[Image via UFC ]