Turns out that UFC and Brock Lesnar really were never ever ever getting back together. Back in March, Lesnar made the shocking announcement that he had retired from competition with UFC. The announcement came just six days before Lesnar was set to main event WrestleMania 31 as defending WWE Heavyweight champion.
The deal was believed to have been a battle right down to the wire between UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta and Vince McMahon. Lesnar said that it was never about the money (Fertitta was apparently willing to offer double what WWE had), but rather about his heart being in professional wrestling, and no longer in MMA.
According to a recent interview with UFC president Dana White, Lesnar wasn’t fudging:
“Not very close at all,” White told radio host Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan on Thursday. “We’d known that Brock was probably going to take a pass and go back to wrestling, which was the right move. You know, Brock came in here, he did incredible things and he got a great deal from Vince (McMahon). He’s 38 years old, man. It makes all the sense in the world.” – via MMAFighting.com
Shortly thereafter, Lesnar told the Associated Press, “I tried to picture myself coming down to the cage, and it was like a bad dream. It just wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right.”
There’s always a lot of hemming and hawing about transitional stars’ motivations when ending up in UFC, but while the contract with WWE may have been extremely lucrative, it’s kinda nice to see that his desire to just show up and wreck people on TV for funsies is genuine. Picturing Lorenzo Fertitta or Dana White watching Monday Night Raw on mute with Nothing Compares 2 U on mute in the background just makes it a little sweeter, and definitely a whole lot funnier. 10-1 they traded T-Swift break-up mixes.
