Brock Lesnar ended his MMA career on Friday night after the former UFC heavyweight champion suffered a first-round TKO to Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 in Las Vegas.
Fighting for the first time since losing the heavyweight title to Cain Velasquez 14 months ago, Lesnar was dropped by a body kick to the liver and Overeem pounced for the finish with punches on the ground.
Lesnar, a former WWE superstar and NCAA wrestling champion, ends his MMA career at 5-3. After suffering a first-round submission to Frank Mir in his Octagon debut in 2008, Lesnar rebounded with a win over Heath Herring and claimed the UFC title in his next fight with a knockout of Randy Couture.
Lesnar defended the title over Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, but was sidelined twice for extended periods by diverticulitis, which culminated in surgery to have a foot of his colon removed earlier this year.
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You mean October of 2010…when Lesnar lost to Velasquez.
Frankly, I could tell the way he took Overeem’s hand in both of his that his heart wasn’t in it. Body shots notwithstanding, it looked to me as if Lesnar was looking for the quick exit.
Brock isn’t a fighter, he never was. He’s was an already famous guy who went where the money was. Overeen likes fighting and Brock doesn’t – simple as that. There is guys in the NBA who play basketball because they are 7’2″. They have no basketball skills that any other person walking earth doesn’t have. The Couture fight was a lucky hit and Mir was merely great postioning. He isn’t top 10 and never was. Dana talks about not doing freak shows but Brock was a freak show that lasted a few years instead of one fight, as it usually does.
Bro, he beat Shane Carwin and Mir. But he isn’t a fighter? So you are saying any non=fighter can just step in and do the same?
Bro, he beat Shane Carwin and Mir. But he isn’t a fighter? So you are saying any non-fighter can just step in and do the same?
Bro? Huh? Yes, any guy of his size, wrestling background given the same opportunities, would have had the same success. He offered nothing more than a huge, agile body. He has no real fight instints. He never listened to his coaches which probably would happen when you get a rookie who has already made a lot of money doing something else. He has 16 minutes of fight time in the past 2 years – 15 minutes and 55 seconds (rough) of that was Brock getting completely demolished. Anyone who gets in there is a total warrior and deserves respect, no doubt. I just don’t think it comes naturally to him like it did guys like Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture. I think Chuck would have fought for free because he enjoyed it. I don’t think Brock would have fought for $1 less than what they paid him. Just my opinion.
@kevin carrol.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say your wrong about fighting for free. If someone like Liddel would fight for free then why would his contract give him over a half a mill a fight?
Your rough 15 minutes estimate is terrible at best. He demolished Heath Herring and Controlled Randy till the TKO and Mir till the TKO. If your going to make up stats at least make them reasonable enough where even I have to google something to prove you wrong.
Makes sense to retire, move back to the WWE and earn boat loads of dollars. Brock was a one trick mma pony anyway huge donkey kong attack, survive that and pick him apart.
A “one trick pony” who won the title and successfully defended it twice against top tier competition (Couture, Mir, Carwin)? Really pal?
Show some semblance of respect, he’s pretty much earned it.
Ya, come on man. Give credit where credit is due. Even with this loss is still a top 5 or 6 HW if he had chose to stick around. Not bad for a fighter whos second MMA fight was against a former UFC champ.
Lets call it what it is.
people always seem to forget that if two guys r in the heavyweight division it doesnt mean they r evenly matched in size and strength couture is awesome but outweighed by 45 lbs an mir was prob outweighed by 20 lbs and thats just at the weigh in think bout it, its like rampage fighting matt hughes
Don’t forget he already came back from a life-threatening injury twice. That takes more out of you than anyone can measure.
John cent is shaking in his boots
John cena
and to think…Lesnar got paid $400,000 bucks to put on that shit performance. I’m glad he retired. Hope he didn’t let the octagon door hit him on the way out..
I want to punch you in the ovaries which I am sure you have.
Give credit where credit is due. He was a champ, beat some good guys, and was fighting UFC Champions from his secong MMA fight on.
Congrats Brock…
if u wanna be a lesnar nuthugger, u can go right ahead. i never discredited the guys accomplishments. he’s accomplished more than many ppl do in an entire lifetime in 34 year. imo he was paid too much to go out the for a minute and a half and give a garbage performance and give up, and u can SMD if u dont like my opinion.
I was just poking fun, don’t get mad. I AM NOT a Lesnar fan. I just think that he was a pretty good fighter with the situation he was delt. People seem to think that there are only two levels in MMA, Spider Silva or terrible. He is at least a top 6 or 7 HW, which is great for his experience. Pretty good, not great, but made his mark on the sport, albeit a short one…
why does it matter how much someone is paid, money is all relative. Why are you glad he is retired he put on a lot of great fights in his career and you can’t really argue that.
Lets all discuss a simple concept. When Lesnar fights, the pay-per-view revenues are millions more dollars than any other headliner. Who else should get the extra money? Dana White? People who say he is over paid and can’t understand why baffle me.
You guys who are bashing Brock need to lay off of him. This dude, like him or not, fought back twice from a devastating disease. This man just had a foot of his colon cut out of him and he still had the heart and will power to get back into the octagon and give it a go. Yes he put on a bad showing but for a man who always seems like an asshole he has a big heart.
The 1: youre right it takes a ton of heart to get kicked a few times and to collect ur half a million dollars, not what i call heart, not saing he doesnt have heart but if that is heart to u ur an idiot, thats just capitalism
Yes. This is exactly right. Brock Lesnar just wanted to collect a paycheck yesterday. Can’t blame the guy, really. The joke’s on us. Who among us would have done differently? Not me.
First I’m not an idiot. Second you are assuming he fought just for the money. Considering he made almost $6 million last year I don’t think $400,000 meant much to him. I mean seriously if all he cared about was the money and not winning and competing at a high level then why would he retire? The UFC would let him continue to fight since he is their best PPV draw. Why would he retire and make no money compared to fighting and making money?
@learntoread One fight is all he get’s any credit from in my opinion and that was against Carwin. Despite what you may think in your deluded Brockverse he never showed any evolution and had only a head long bull rush as his main weapon. All 3 of his defeats showed just how one dimensional he was. Subbed against Mir when he should have won, slaughtered by CV resorting to comedy swings and dives and then battered by Reem. Please show me a legacy or compelling argument to support your stance.
Doublejayz:
Show me the last UFC HW Champion who defended their title twice (and how many years ago that was) and then you’ll have an inkling of the answer towards your “legacy” confusion.
Sorry but both Sylvia and Couture, the previous champs both defended the title. Look there is no denying the guy is a beast and freak of nature just to come back from his injuries but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame!
Couture did not defend his title twice during his last run as HW champ, sorry.
hey learntoread whens the last time someone with the wrestling credentials of brock gotten the chance to come in and fight guys that r 30 – 50 lbs lighter than him, im sure chael sonnen would lay on top of some 155s all day , i agree with double jayz lots of credit for heart and for carwin fight but thats bout it
Brock was poor, one tiny bit of adversity in a fight and he looked like a fish out of water, it’s kind of embarrassing for the UFC to see one of the ex champs totally freaking out in the cage when something goes wrong.
I think Brock brought a lot of limelight and new fans to the UFC and MMA in general and that can never be a bad thing.I will be sad to see him gone but can totally understand why he retired.I think he just wanted to challenge himself after 2 major operations like the competitor that he is.Brock will be missed by a lot of people although has made the right decision.Well done to Overeem and great to see him in the UFC.Interesting times ahead in the HW division.
Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Bank on it.
Will earn him a quick and easy million dollars too.
That fight is long in the making. Seems Brock’s losing streak will continue.
After a hemicolectomy, it’s difficult for your body to absorb essential vitamins and minerals. A single episode of diverticulitis can send you into retirement (and septic shock), but this guy had two episodes of diverticulitis (the first of which required an ICU stay, so he was probably septic, mortality is > 40% for sepsis), one colectomy, and two to three fights somewhere in the middle against the best HW fighters in the world. Give the guy a break – he provided us with some awesome fights. The best of luck to him.
At first I couldn’t stand the thought of Brock in the ufc. I was so pleased when Mir subbed him in his debut. But over time I grew to respect his heart for the fight game. Say what you want about his wwe background and troubles integrating mma with his wrestling, but the fact is he brought a lot of awareness to this sport and defiantly had heart while working for and promoting ufc. To come back from such a devastating illness and compete at a high level is deserving of respect. Cheers to Brock, from a former Brock hater.
Why we love Brock? Watching Brock compete satisfies your most natural survival instinct, its like the last remaining viking/caveman with a one dimensional, bull rush, headstrong attitude charging in there and fighting for his prize. The sport of MMA needed a personality like Brock to close one chapter in their history and start another. Look at the ppv revenue with him on the card and all the fans he brought over from pro wrestling. Consider talent and size and look at the HW fighters before he was there like Sylvia, Couture, Arlovski, the smaller Frank Mir and compare them with fighters now Carwin, Cain, and the new and improved Frank Mir. Anyone of the guys now would destroy the older class of top contenders and I think Brock helped the HWs make that transition. And how much more entertaining are the post-fight interviews since Brock started unleashing on the mike. I know it brings a WWE aspect to the UFC, but imagine a tame Chael or either Diaz brother. Lastly, for a guy to do what he did in that amount of time and faced who he faced, my hats off to him. He faced nothing but the best guys, not always with the greatest result and is willing to hang it up as he sees fit. We will always wonder if he would have been more successful if he started sooner and younger but for me, I think it was the perfect fighter at the perfect time.
Brock wasn’t his best. Not that I don’t credit Alistair with earning it.. but yea I respect the fact he’s peaked physically and wants to save his body for family life. JDS seemed glad not to have to stuff the silverbacking. Overeem’s striking is VERY dangerous though. Not only power and combinations but the way he cuts angles and has kicks, knees and punches from all angles. JDS is in no way guaranteed to land first.
How much money Brock will(or used to) make in WWE? Any idea?
Ehh take my comment with a grain of salt because im a brock hater, but the man was fast tracked to the UFC HW title on a very easy path. whenever he faced elite fighters he crumbled (minus Mir because he is a bad style match up for Lesnar). With the Carwin fight he got lucky that Carwin gassed himself out. and yes Brock is a one trick pony… All he can do is wrestle/ground and pound. mind you he does it very well, but you need to be a hybrid fight in today’s MMA.
He changed the way heavy weight fighters are… He made the division relevnt again…. Bigger faster stronger… Age of the 225lb heavy weights are gone.
congrats on your career brock. wish it would have been longer, loved watchin you fight.
Those of you who think he isn’t a fighter or ‘crumbles’ when he comes across good competition should try bowling after getting a foot of colon ripped out of you, let alone fight some of the most dangerous men ALIVE (amongst the 6 billion that inhabit the earth).
Why hasnt mmafrenzy reported about the Dream results. Fedor got a good KO
Usually, DREAM isn’t covered very well because nobody cares about it based on page views. There should be a podcast up in the next week or so based on it. Also, Ishii is hardly an MMA competitor. It was a knockout, yes, but hardly a good one.
I am by no means a Lesnar fan, but a fan of the sport, and actively train. Saying that, here’s my opinion: First, most of you who have to resort to name calling, learn to at least spell, shows the mentality expected of some one who has very little knowledge of the sport and think that everyone should fight a certain way. This is not the case. Lesnar was not a well rounded fighter, but he was a fighter none the less, and at a level where very few people could have handled him. Not taking away from a disease that kills quite a few people who contract it. Sure, the man was a one dimensional fighter. You do something, and do it greatly for 30+ years of your life, then try and change overnight…not as easy as it sounds from the couch. The fact that the man is probably 270-280 when he walks into the ring, and has the speed and strength that he does possess, puts him at a great advantage over many fighters in the HW division. I am saddened that he only had 8 fights. I would have liked to see him evolve and learn more. The fact that he subbed Carwin was a testament to the fact that the wrestler was learning something. Sure, he wasn’t a striker at the top 3 or 4 in the world level, such as Velasquez, Dos Santos, and Overeem, but why would we ever expect that from a 30+ year wrestling champion, after such a short career in mma? Be fair, whether or not you’re a Lesnar fan or not, the man put it down in an arena that most people cannot make it into, much less shine in. Randy Couture is still one of my favorite mma fighters ever, and until he retired this last time (lol), he was still primarily a wrestler. There have been plenty of fighters, especially heavies that were basically wrestlers that learned to duck and swing, some of the greatest…. Couture, Severn, Coleman… just a few of the most revered names in the hw mma game. Wrestlers, any of whom CV, JDS, or Ao would dismantle fairly quickly if it was to remain a standing fight. I believe that Lesnar could have become a great fighter had the circumstances been better for him.
Say what you will about Brock. Nothing changes the fact that the guy has serious balls to step into that Octogon when asked to. He never had an easy opponant. He certainly entertained me and I am sorry to see him go.
All of you who bad mouth and bitch and moan about Lesnar watched his fights with great intrigue. Not one of you chose to take a toilet break or go get a beer during a Brock fight because he had you feeling excited because he was unpredictable and wild. Show the man some respect.
And to the person saying that Brock only fought in the UFC because that is where the money was… really? Trust me, Brock could have made the same money doing something easier than fighting in the Octogon. The WWE would have paid him great money even in an non-performing role. Endorsements would have covered him etc.
What Brock Retired!!!!??????????????
Personally, I don’t think Lesnar ever realized his full potential; that is, his never developed true knockout skills as a striker. He did what he was good at–getting you to the ground, grappling and ground and pound. But with the number of skilled strikers in the division now like Velasquez, Dos Santos, and now Overeem Brock couldn’t compete.
Add to to fact that his conditioning would never be where those guys are didn’t help, hemicolectomy notwithstanding. I always felt like if Brock was really committed to his overall health he would have fought at 20-30 pounds lighter. Now THAT would have been something special.
Best of luck in your future endeavors, Brock….