WWE superstar Brock Lesnar is the only real success to make the switch from pro wrestling to elite level MMA. Although he has been the subject of much controversy, Lesnar was the UFC heavyweight champion for a time…
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar initially competed during a strange time for the heavyweight division. Everything seemed to be about size, putting the biggest scariest looking beasts in the octagon sold tickets.
Heavy-handed monsters ruled the division, not to say the current crop doesn’t have insane power, but the level of technicality was light years behind what we see today. Brock Lesnar fit in perfectly.
Having competed for the WWE for years, Lesnar had an already global fan base, and a history at the top level of college wrestling. It didn’t all start well for Lesnar, though, as his first UFC fight saw the pro wrestler finished in 90 seconds by Frank Mir.
Big Future
Just two fights later, Lesnar was the heavyweight champion after TKO’ing Randy Couture. Make no mistake, the UFC really wanted this guy as champion. He didn’t even need to try and venues would sell out, PPV sales went through the roof and everyone was talking about the UFC.
It wouldn’t be long until a smaller but much more skilled heavyweight by the name of Cain Velasquez would spoil the party for Lesnar. A brief comeback in 2016 saw Lesnar defeat Mark Hunt, only tohave the win overturned when he failed a drug test.
Now, just shy of two years later, Lesnar’s manager Paul Heyman makes some very interesting claims, as per Wrestling Observer:
WWE & The UFC
“I don’t think it’s any secret that Brock is looking to get back into the Octagon. He is obviously eyeballing another fight in UFC. There’s no secret. He’s posing for pictures with Dana White wearing a UFC shirt in the UFC offices in Las Vegas. That’s not a negotiating tactic, Brock Lesnar wants to compete inside of the octagon. There’s no leveraging that; it’s a fact.”
“We both have a number of projects we have been interested in pursuing that will start to kick off after WrestleMania. That doesn’t mean Brock Lesnar can’t retain the title and we do those other projects simultaneously in a continued run as Universal Champion. The proof I offer to you is Brock Lesnar fought Mark Hunt at UFC 200 and, six weeks later, main evented SummerSlam against Randy Orton.”
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“Brock Lesnar can do both and he has proven that time and time again. And I’ve been the co-founder and co-running my agency since I came back in 2012. I’ve been working on outside projects this entire time, so we can certainly walk that line when it comes to working in WWE and other projects. Mine is entertainment-based, Brock’s is beating the hell out of someone in the octagon.”
