Brock Lesnar will return to MMA on July 9th following a four-and-a-half-year absence from the sport to take on Mark Hunt at UFC 200. But according to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar, the comeback is motivated by nothing but his own competitive nature.
“I don’t think I have anything to prove at all. I’ve accomplished a lot of great things,” former NCAA Division I wrestling champion Lesnar said in a Heyman Hustle interview. “I feel very fortunate that I’m 38 years old, I work for the WWE and I can step back into the Octagon again for the UFC. How many people can do that? I’m one in a million. How many people can pull it off? One in a million, and you’re looking at him.”
Lesnar was incredibly successful in his relatively short MMA career, winning the UFC heavyweight title and breaking pay-per-view records. However, a lengthy battle with diverticulitis (a type of digestive disease) caused Lesnar’s health to deteriorate and eventually played a big part in his decision to retire from fighting.
“Somewhere, deep down in my soul, do I want to extinguish some bad feelings that the last two times I had in the Octagon weren’t in my favor? I think everybody as an athlete goes through that but… I literally feel like I got beat by diverticulitis,” said Brock.
Lesnar is adamant he is not doing this to prove anything to fans who criticize him for his poor performances in his last two fights (vs. Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem), nor is he doing it for the purpose of pure entertainment, despite being one of the more entertaining athletes in MMA history.
“I’m not doing this for fans. If there are fans that are excited that I’m getting back into the Octagon, great. But I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing this for me. This is for me. And if, by chance, two million people want to tune in for me to enjoy myself on July 9th, so be it. That’s great, that’s really good and I appreciate that but this is… I’m not going to change. This is all about me. I’m sorry.”
