Brock Lesnar Non-Committal On UFC Future Following UFC 200
Brock Lesnar is set to fight Mark Hunt this coming Saturday night at UFC 200, but we don’t really know if it’ll be a one-off fight for Lesnar, or if the current WWE star will step inside the Octagon again. The belief is that if Lesnar wins, he’ll want to continue fighting, but if he loses, his MMA career may finally come to an end on Saturday night.
During Wednesday’s UFC 200 pre-fight press-conference, Lesnar was asked about his future in the UFC, and he was unsure if he’d be able to fight again, saying that it’s up to Vince McMahon. He also said that after Saturday, he has WWE commitments all through August, so that means if he wants to fight again, it won’t be anytime soon.
"I feel f***king awesome!" – @BrockLesnar #UFC200 #BrocksGotJokes https://t.co/OnTwstGmSI
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2016
“I guess that’s not a question for me, that’s a question for Vince McMahon. I don’t know. We’ll get through Saturday and see what happens. I have no idea. After Saturday, I think I’m booked through August, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
The WWE commitment he’s talking about in August is WWE’s SummerSlam show, where he’s rumored to be wrestling the returning Randy Orton in a match that WWE fans have wanted to see ever since “The Beast” returned to the company back in the spring of 2012.
Prior to this week, some were thinking that the UFC had agreed to promote the SummerSlam show during International Fight Week, but there was no mention of the event at the press conference, and there probably won’t be any mention of it during the UFC 200 show. So, it looks like the UFC didn’t agree to promote SummerSlam, and that what Lesnar has said leading up to this fight is true, which is that he’s doing this for himself, and not for anyone else.
Earlier this week, Lesnar hinted that he had a clause in his WWE contract which would allow him to return to the UFC if he ever wanted to. But he didn’t say if the clause was just for one fight or for multiple fights.
Brock. Is. One. Big. Dude. #UFC200 https://t.co/0p1qqu2y3q
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2016
Currently, Lesnar is listed as the underdog in his fight with Mark Hunt. Moreover, many people are predicting that Hunt will knock Lesnar out in the very first round. Of course, each of Lesnar’s last two fights saw him losing via TKO, and Hunt has won his last two fights via knockout in the very first round. So, there’s a good chance that Hunt will knockout Lesnar just a couple of minutes into the bout.
Lesnar, who will be turning 39 just a couple of days after UFC 200, hasn’t fought in nearly five years. Originally, his UFC career ended in December of 2011 after a first-round TKO loss to Alistair Overeem. But Lesnar has said that diverticulitis ended his UFC career, and now, he finally feels 100 percent healthy, which is why he wants to return to mixed martial arts.
Brock Lesnar’s last UFC win was back in July of 2010, when he submitted Shane Carwin at UFC 116. Of course, Lesnar nearly got finished in the opening minutes of the bout, but the referee, Josh Rosenthal, decided to let the bout continue, which allowed Lesnar to recover, and lock in the arm-triangle choke.
Mark Hunt is a much more skilled, and arguably a more powerful striker than Carwin was, so Lesnar will have quite a task in front of him on Saturday night.
Lesnar has been training with former UFC heavyweight and fantastic kickboxer Pat Barry leading up to his fight. So, he’s definitely preparing the right way for his bout with Hunt. Will it pay off? We’ll see this coming Saturday night!
[Image via John Locher / AP Images]
