Brock Lesnar

Lesnar's Brief, but Very Important, UFC Career

By Micah Stoll

After Brock Lesnar lost his UFC 141 bout versus Alistair Overeem he announced his retirement. Many athletes have retired, caught the competitive bug, and returned to action. However, few have pushed their bodies like Lesnar has throughout his athletic life.
Lesnar wrestled at Bismarck State College and then transferred to the University of Minnesota.
In 2000 Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation and debuted with the organization in 2002. Lesnar wrestled for for four years. When he retired, Lesnar left the WWF as one of the top draws and in the middle of a contract reportedly for seven years and $45 million dollars.
Lesnar cited the grueling travel schedule, injuries and his reliance on vodka and pain pills as reasons why he left the WWF. Lesnar claimed to be on the road over 300 days a year. "You are miserable, climbing the walls in the locker room, waiting to come through the curtain in a different town every night that looks exactly the same the night before."
When asked about injuries from professional wrestling, Lesnar claims to have "torn up both knees", and had constant back, rib, and neck pains. He wrestled with his MCL blown out and three broken ribs for six months because he had recently become champion.
Lesnar also claims there are two years of his life he does not remember due to vodka and pain pills.
Lesnar then moved to football and spent the 2004 preseason with the Minnesota Vikings. He was a late preseason cut, declining an offer from the Vikings to play for their NFL Europa team.
In April of 2006, Lesnar made his MMA debut with a K-1 Hero's match. His second fight was in the UFC against Frank Mir.

While in the UFC Lesnar was diagnosed with diverticulitis in 2009. The illness caused him to miss two title fights and unable to face Junior dos Santos after The Ultimate Fighter.
This is the abbreviated athletic and injury history of a 34 year old man. He is younger than Anderson Silva and should not be on the downside of his career.
So why is the often injured, 5 win and 3 loss fighter one of the most important fighters ever in MMA?
The biggest reason is because Lesnar is the largest pay-per-view draw in MMA history. It can be argued that if you also count his WWF PPVs, the only other individuals that surpassed Lesnar are Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya.
The UFC has had seven PPV events reach 1 million buys, and Lesnar headlined four of them. That is why he became the highest paid fighter as well. In the May 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated, they reported that during the calendar year Lesnar earned $5.3 million in salary and PPV bonuses from the UFC. That did not include any money earned from sponsors.
The MMA PPV title will be passed on to a new pugilist. There are many options, but the most likely will be Jon Jones.
Lesnar was also that bridge from the dark ages of UFC heavyweights to the current field. It was not long ago that the division lacked many stars. Big Nog started his brief tenure as champ by beating Tim Sylvia. Sylvia won the first two rounds of the fight before succumbing to a choke in that 2008 battle.
In 2008 The Maine-iac was almost champ again. Less than four years ago Sylvia fought in the most lack luster trilogy of fights with Andrei Arlovsky and defended against the likes of Jeff Monson.
Lesnar made the heavyweight division relevant again. It is easy to forget now that JDS, Valesquez, Overeem, Carwin, Mir and a group of young, up and coming big men are providing exciting fights.
Recently, Dave Meltzer gave an interview claiming he heard rumors the week leading up to the fight that Lesnar was going to retire.
Lesnar has nothing left athletically to prove. He has competed at the highest levels in different arenas and reached the pinnacles.
Some will not give him the credit he deserves because of his professional wrestling background. Others will call him an MMA bully, unable to get use to the idea of getting punched.
I believe if MMA was as popular when he graduated from college as it is now, and he began training in his early twenties, Lesnar would be one of the top heavyweights MMA had seen.
The ability to train, minus the years of wear-and-tear the WWF put on him. Time to develop his skills against competition outside of the UFC.
Because of the money earned by Lesnar, his quick title shots given to him by Dana White and how well Lesnar played the heal, many will look back at Lesnar's time with animosity.
I will remember him as the biggest draw of his time, crossing the sport over to media outlets such as ESPN and providing an excitement to his fights that few were able to deliver.