Brock Lesnar: UFC doubled its offer but my heart wasn't in fighting anymore
On Tuesday, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar announced that he was signing a new multiyear contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, effectively ending any possibility that he would ever fight in MMA again.
Lesnar said the decision ultimately came down to a better working schedule with the WWE as well as a mental block that kept him from truly wanting to step back into the Octagon.
The former champion spent the past two months with training partners and coaches to get his body ready for a potential return to the UFC, but he never could get his mind back in the right place where he really saw himself fighting again.
After Lesnar made the decision, he called Lorenzo Fertitta to let the UFC co-owner know that he was returning to WWE. At 37 years of age, it also meant he truly had fought in the UFC for the last time.
Fertitta made one last go at Lesnar by offering him double what the promotion originally had on the table, but the behemoth heavyweight opted to stay with the WWE instead.
"Lorenzo said to me, 'Can we sharpen our pencil? Can we double it?'" Lesnar told The Associated Press. "I said, 'It's not about that. I'm calling you to tell you where my heart is, and it's not about the money.'
"And then in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, 'Well, yeah, it is about the money, but I don't have to beat myself up for it.' To prepare for another MMA fight, we're talking 16, 18 weeks of pure hell, and then the cage door shuts and it's on."
Lesnar was set to become a free agent next week following his previously scheduled final commitment with WWE at WrestleMania, but his new deal wraps him up for several years and he'll likely finish his career with the professional wrestling organization.
Lesnar's impact in MMA will never be forgotten. The former NCAA wrestling champion rocketed to the top of the sport in just his fourth fight after he defeated Randy Couture to win the UFC heavyweight title.
He went on to defend the belt two more times before an intestinal disease called diverticulitis not only took him out of the sport for several years, but also could have cost Lesnar his life. When he finally returned to the sport, Lesnar was not the same.
"When you're sick for two or three years and you don't know what's going on, all of a sudden I went from the baddest man on the planet to vulnerable," Lesnar said. "It's reality. My whole life I've been this superhuman freak that just kills people, a savage beast. I wasn't that guy anymore. Of course my confidence was totally jaded on my last three fights. Whose wouldn't be? Is Anderson Silva the same guy he was (after suffering a broken leg)?
"I've been a barbarian my whole life. I'm just a smarter barbarian now. Evolution, you know?"
When Lesnar used to walk to the Octagon, he was every heavyweight's worst nightmare. It turns out the thought of fighting again turned out to be Lesnar's own nightmare instead.
"I tried to picture myself coming down to the cage, and it was like a bad dream," Lesnar said. "It just wasn't right. It didn't feel right."
