LAS VEGAS – Almost five years have passed since Brock Lesnar last walked out of the Octagon – five years in which he, the sport and the UFC have changed immeasurably.
Lesnar retired from mixed martial arts after getting knocked out by Alistair Overeem at UFC 141, his second straight knockout loss. Diverticulitis robbed him of the ability to train and prepare properly and against Overeem, he was a shell of the brute who’d won the heavyweight title in his fourth pro fight by stopping the legendary Randy Couture.
When his body wouldn’t allow him to do what he loved to do, at least not at the sport’s highest level, Lesnar walked away. He did what he had to do to feed his family, and so he accepted an offer from the WWE to once again become a professional wrestler.
Instantly, he was the biggest star in Vince McMahon’s universe. It was a part-time gig that allowed him to greatly reduce his travel while also increasing his paycheck. It’s not a bad life if you can get it: Work less and be paid more.
Lesnar, though, wasn’t content with the arrangement, even though he exceled at it, for two reasons: He loves MMA, and he’s a competitor. Great athleticism is required to star in the WWE, but the cold hard truth is that a match with a scripted outcome can’t scratch the competitive itch that always drove Lesnar.
When he finally felt he was fully healthy, thoughts of returning to the UFC bubbled up because nothing else could deliver that sense of satisfaction for him.
“I’m trying to enjoy this and, make every memory I can because the last few memories I had in the cage weren’t really fun because I was sick,” he said “I had surgery. I had to deal with that, coming back from that. I was worn out. I was tired, but now I feel rejuvenated. I feel healthy. I feel grateful for the opportunity and here we are.”
So on Saturday, Lesnar will return to fight Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena. Not surprisingly, it’s in a show that is tracking to become the biggest in the promotion's history.
UFC president Dana White was caught off guard in the build-up to UFC 100 by all the questions he received about it. He didn’t think it was anything any different than UFC 99 or UFC 101, but when he realized what the centennial show represented to his customers, he set out to stack it.
“At the time, we were trying to get rid of the numbers, if you remember,” White said. “But everybody kept asking what we were planning for UFC 100, so we kind of had to do it up right. That sort of happened because of the fans. But this one, no doubt about it, we wanted to make it a huge event, as big as we could.”
Never did White imagine that making it as big as he could would involve Lesnar, even though one day a few months ago Lesnar’s number popped up on his phone.
“We hit each other up a lot just to say hi, check on the family, that kind of thing,” White said. “We’ve talked a lot since he left us, so it wasn’t weird when I saw his number pop up on my phone. It’s not like we hadn’t talked since last he fought in the UFC and I saw his number come up and I was saying to myself, ‘Man, this is weird. Why is Brock Lesnar calling me?’ It was normal, two friends who would say hello every now and then.”
This time, though, Lesnar wasn’t calling White to check on the family. He was calling to see if White would have him back.
White knew that Lesnar was under contract to the WWE and that he couldn’t simply sign him, but he was all ears the moment Lesnar broached the subject.
Jon Jones, who will fight Daniel Cormier for the undisputed light heavyweight title in the main event, welcomed Lesnar’s presence when he learned of it.
Jones gets a cut of pay-per-view proceeds and knows full well what Lesnar will mean in that regard.
“The majority of my career, when I’ve been in the main event, my fight has kind of had to carry the card,” Jones said. “Remember what happened at UFC 151? My fight didn’t go off and they had to cancel the card. I haven’t had the best co-main fights, to tell you the truth. So I was really excited when Brock was put on this card because he’s a guy who is of equal or higher star power than me and people love to watch him.”
It’s difficult to put a finger on what exactly makes one person a pay-per-view star and another not. And while they often go hand-in-hand, just because one fighter does well on regular TV doesn’t mean his or her fights are going to translate equally as well to pay-per-view.
Lesnar, though, was a seller from Day 1. But he comes back to a vastly different sport than the one he’d left in 2011.
The UFC didn’t have a women’s division yet, nor did it have a men’s flyweight division. It was only one fight into its television deal with Fox when Lesnar walked away after being thrashed by Overeem.
The company is now in the midst of the greatest stretch in its history. Fueled by stars like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor, whose ability with a microphone mirrors that of Lesnar’s, pay-per-view sales have exploded. In the last year, UFC 189, 193, 194 and 196 have all either come close to or exceeded a million pay-per-view sales.
Georges St-Pierre ,who is one of the biggest stars in the company’s history, is negotiating a deal to return to the UFC.
Though the UFC doesn’t release pay-per-view figures, CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Yahoo Sports after UFC 193 that it was tracking to be the second-biggest show in company history. White said that UFC 196 bypassed everything. And he expects UFC 200 to set a new standard.
“This is going to smoke anything we’ve ever done,” White said. “It’s trending to break every pay-per-view record ever.”
Lesnar is taking a risk by coming back. If he loses, it will be three losses in a row, but this one will come with no excuses. He’s healthy. He’s been able to train the way he wants, though he admits he made the deal so late that he’s only trained about five weeks to face Hunt.
Hunt has a style that seems to give Lesnar trouble, which the big man conceded himself.
“Is he better than I am at standup?” Lesnar asked. “Of course he is. Is he a better wrestler than me? Hell no. And he’ll probably tell you that, too. So I mean, that’s why we’re fighting. We’re going to see: See who the best man is with their discipline.”
Lesnar arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday and seemed no different: Heavily muscled and about the size of a left tackle.
He’s not sure if this return is a one-time thing or a semi-regular occurrence. He’s doing what he loves, and damn the consequences. He doesn’t even care if his foray into real fighting negatively impacts his drawing power in wrestling.
“I don’t give a [expletive],” he said.
One doesn’t need to be a pro wrestling fan this time around to pull for Lesnar. This is a guy who is well off, who doesn’t have to put himself through the torture of preparing for a pro fight.
He doesn’t need to risk getting knocked out, of damaging his reputation as one of the most fearsome men on the planet.
He’s doing it because he loves it, no more, no less.
Given that, his appeal may even be more widespread than it was the first time around. He’s taking a considerable risk to do what he loves.
If he decides to fight on, Lesnar may be an even bigger star than he was before.
