Brock Lesnar, UFC Heavyweight Luminary, Retires from Sports Entertainment in McAfee Appearance

Brock Lesnar (5-3, 1 NC MMA, 4-3, 1 NC UFC) has logged more than 25 years in the world of sports and sports entertainment. A product of the University of Minnesota, the heavyweight won the NCAA Division I National Championship for the Golden Gophers in 2000. 

From there, he transitioned from the mats of college wrestling to the squared circle of WWE, joining the promotion in its later days as the WWF after leaving the Big Ten program. Upon being elevated to the Superstars roster during 2002, he headlined that year's installment of SummerSlam, squaring off against Dwayne Johnson, also known as "The Rock."

Flanked by manager Paul Heyman, Lesnar defeated The Rock by way of pinfall using an F-5 (faceplant.) A distraught Dwayne Johnson went on a five-month sabbatical following SummerSlam in 2002.

Brock Lesnar Retires from Sports Entertainment After SummerSlam

24 years later, SummerSlam was also the setting for what would prove to be Brock Lesnar's final career appearance. Last Saturday night, inside US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Lesnar versed Oba Femi from the Monday Night RAW roster in a Hell in a Cell match to cap the first evening of a two-night event.

This match was the second time the two had met in the ring in just over three months on a WWE premium live event. Back in April, Lesnar and Femi faced off against one another to begin the second night of WrestleMania in Enterprise, NV.

Much like the match at The Showcase of the Immortals, the contest at SummerSlam ended the same way: An Oba Femi win by way of pinfall. Tuesday morning, Brock Lesnar was a guest of ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show to announce that his appearance during SummerSlam over the weekend would be his last in sports entertainment.

"Saturday was a very emotional day for me because when Oba Femi slammed me at WrestleMania, I was like 'I can't do this again,'" Brock Lesnar said in his interview. "I was like 'I think I'm done,' but the business and I still have fuel in the tank, but Saturday for Brock Lesnar, that's it. That's it for me in the squared circle and for everything else, too."

Looking Back on Brock Lesnar's UFC Run

This marks the second time that Brock Lesnar has left WWE, first departing the company in 2004 due to exhaustion from the demanding workload in the promotion. After being released from WWE, he turned his attention to the NFL, securing a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings and receiving playing time in an exhibition game versus the San Francisco 49ers. 

Three years later, he began an MMA career, winning by way of first-round knockout against Min Soo Kim in K-1 Hero's Dynamite USA in Washington. In the winter of 2008, the UFC came calling for Brock Lesnar, and so did Frank Mir, with the latter securing a first-round submission by way of kneebar.

Following a fight against Heath Herring that August, Lesnar challenged for the UFC Heavyweight Championship versus Randy Couture, punching his way to a win inside the second round of action to secure the title. A rematch against Frank Mir was slated for UFC 100 in July of 2009, with Brock Lesnar unifying the title by way of second-round knockout. 

An October 2010 bout vs. Cain Velasquez ended in defeat for Brock Lesnar, as did a December 2011 fight against Alistair Overeem, with him returning to sports entertainment thereafter. In July of 2016, he made a one-night only return to the UFC, fighting Mark Hunt on UFC 200. Although the bout was originally ruled a victory for Lesnar, it was retroactively reversed to a no-contest after he returned a positive drug test.