‘Here comes the Beast-incarnate!’ Brock Lesnar to make a return to UFC
- Brock Lesnar could make a return to the octagon with Jon Jones challenging him
- The former WWE Champion is believed set to make a return to UFC after leaving WWE this summer
- Lesnar enjoyed an impressive stint at UFC when he joined a decade ago
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Brock Lesnar set to make a return to UFC.
The former UFC Heavyweight champion is set to make a return to the octagon after leaving WWE this summer.
Lesnar has been one of WWE’s prized fighters, enjoying the support and admiration of the franchise’s head Vince McMahon, carrying the WWE Championship title.
The ‘Beast-Incarnate’ made a switch to mixed martial arts in 2007 and signed for UFC.
It was a golden ticket for Dana White owing to Lesnar’s larger-than-life persona, in which he is more than happy to play the villain, coupled with his tremendous size and stature, he was an easy to sell face. And indeed he did.
He made his debut at UFC 81 to take on former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Despite losing the fight, the event notched 650,000 pay-per-view buys for Lesnar’s debut with the company, making the event the third-highest-grossing PPV in the UFC’s history at the time.
At UFC 91, Lesnar had his first-shot at gold against Randy Couture. It was his fourth MMA professional fight and Lesnar reminded everyone why at WWE they called him the ‘Beast-Incarnate’.
Lesnar’s power proved too much for the champion, with the challenger raining down hammer-fists on his sorry rival as the bout was brought to an end.
He won the gold and also became the first UFC fighter to break the one million PPV ceiling in the sport’s history. Lesnar earned $450,000 for his night’s work at the MGM Grand in Sin City.
He had become the face that tore the place, combining his villainous, intimidating persona crafted in WWE with his ferocious physical attributes to become the No 1 star in combat sport.
Seven months after breaking the PPV-buy record at UFC 91, Lesnar shattered that total at UFC 100 when he avenged his loss to Frank Mir, with the event garnering 1.3 Million buys and setting a new record that would not be beaten until Conor McGregor fought Nate Diaz at UFC 196, five years later.
He would suffer losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem and left UFC for WWE.
He would make a comeback in June 2016 and took on Mark Hunt at UFC 200 which he would win by unanimous decision though the win was stripped after Lesnar was sound to have failed a drugs test.
He would again retire from the sport and has not featured since.
At 43, there is no doubt that Lesnar’s best days are behind him, but the prospect of seeing the goliath take on Jones, a star considered the Greatest of all Time by many, is a fight most fans would not be able to resist watching.
