By Justin Faux
Last night amidst one of the busiest weekend’s combat sports has seen all year Brock Lesnar is the hot topic of discussion.
It was billed as the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history when the NCAA Division I champion met the K-1 kickboxing champion in a throw-back to the early days of the promotions history with a traditional striker vs. grappler showdown.
There were millions of questions circling both men and it didn’t take long for them to be answered – Despite suffering a cut early above his eye “The Demolition Man” relentlessly stalked Lesnar who only reverted back to his bread-n-butter wrestling game on one occasion with a takedown attempt that was easily stuffed.
As we were about to reach the half-way point of the first of five potential rounds Overeem connected with three shots to the liver with the final one dropping Lesnar who was swarmed on with strikes.
The former WWE Champion announced his intentions to walk-away from the sport in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
“I’ve had a really difficult couple years with my disease,” Lesnar said after the fight. “And I’m officially going to say this is the last time you’ll see me in the octagon.”
Brock added that he had promised his wife, Sable of WWE stardom and his child that if he won this fight he would get a title shot and that would be his last fight. But if he lost, as he did, he would retire.
It’s been a busy few years for the Webster, South Dakoda native beginning his career in 2007 Lesnar did in eight professional bouts more than what most could do in eighty.
In 2008 with only one octagon victory under his belt Lesnar dominated two-division champion and first ballot Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture en route to winning his first UFC title which he would go on to defend twice.
In 2009 he had his first flare with the severe intestinal aliment diverticulitis during a hunting trip in Canada and after spending 11 days in hospital the imposing giant had lost 40 pounds and was recommended to have surgery to remove his colon.
This year he would once again be troubled by diverticulitis which would force him to cancel his UFC 131 bout with rival coach Junior Dos Santos on the thirteenth season of Spike TV’s hit reality series The Ultimate Fighter.
Now with a 5-3 professional record and for the first time in his career suffering back-to-back defeats Lesnar hangs up his gloves.
Literally seconds later the key-words “Brock Lesnar” and “WWE” were trending worldwide so you can guess what people were talking about.
Following winning the NCAA Division I Championship for the University of Minnesota he chose a career in professional wrestling over going to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia for one simple reason – Money.
Over his four-year career with the WWE he made plenty of it taking the wrestling word by storm and achieving almost everything that there was to do.
Conspiracy theorists have been hard at work since last night proceedings with wet dreams about Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28.
Will the former champ return home to the WWE after nearly an eight-year hiatus? Yes, but not right now.
Firstly, Lesnar will not return to the WWE on a full-time schedule unless it was for the most ridiculous amounts of cash. Lesnar speaks in his autobiography about the toll that a 300+ day schedule in the WWE can take on your body which forced him to an addiction to Vicodin and Vodka and at 34-years-of-age I don’t know if that’s something he really wants to do again. Secondly, returning in time for WrestleMania in April of 2012 wouldn’t make as much of an impact as it would have in years prior because the Main Event for this year’s super-show is The Rock vs. John Cena. I would be shocked if Brock Lesnar never made a big return to the WWE for a few big-time paydays at their big events.
Brock Lesnar has tried his hand at a lot of things in life between MMA, a try-out with the Minnesota Vikings that came up empty and an amateur wrestling career but he found the most success being a part of the WWE roster.
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