It has neither been denied nor confirmed if former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will once again step inside the Octagon. Speculation that the former 2-time All-American wrestler may return to MMA reached fever pitch following Brock’s attendance at UFC 168, which just happened to coincide with a planned ‘special announcement’ mid way through the event.
That ‘special announcement’ turned out to be about UFC Fight Pass and not the Brock announcement everyone hoped for, however, it was Dana’s post event comments that has left fight fans and the media alike salivating at the thought there is even a glimmer of hope the WWE superstar will return.
Dana confirmed he has kept in contact with Brock following his retirement from MMA and suggested that the former Champ “has some regrets” about how his career panned out having battled with the diverticulitis disease throughout. According to Dana, Brock was competing at approximately 40 percent of what he was capable of the whole time he was on the UFC’s roster.
Scarily, this suggests therefore that only a 40 percent fit Brock was able to beat Hall of Famer Randy Couture for the Heavyweight Championship and defend it twice against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. To say that is very impressive is an understatement.
Ultimately, Brock cut his MMA career short following losses to Overeem and Velasquez as his battle with diverticulitis worsened and major surgery was required. We can only imagine what kind of MMA career a healthy Brock would have had and this very question is no doubt still burning away inside Dana White, and it seems Brock too.
It is fair to say that the UFC’s Heavyweight division is currently the least competitive it has been in years. Cain Velasquez is proving to be an immovable force at the helm and in my opinion only Travis Browne if fast emerging as a worthy contender. When asked about Brock’s UFC return Dana commented; “We’ll see how this whole thing plays out. It’s definitely a possibility.” This most certainly suggests that Dana is working hard behind the scenes to make this happen.
Brock has of course returned to competitive action with his former employers, the WWE, so if he is healthy enough for professional wrestling action, is he healthy enough for the UFC? The UFC is a commercial entity of course and the heavyweight division is widely regarded as the show piece of any fight promotion.
Dana and the UFC will be fully aware that the return of a much fitter and healthier Brock will inject the shot of adrenaline the heavyweight division needs, and moreover, his return would more than fill the huge PPV void left by GSP and Anderson Silva.
I, for one, love the idea and really hope we see Brock back in the cage at least one more time.