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Brock Lesnar is a one-of-a-kind athlete that's hard to find in the wrestling business. In an industry where the most athletic men and women have stepped in the ring, Brock Lesnar fits that criteria on another level. However, despite having a freak of nature type physicality, even Brock Lesnar has dealt with adversities regarding his health. As Brock Lesnar was setting the UFC world on fire, becoming UFC World Heavyweight Champion and a PPV box-office draw, things got bad when he was hit with diverticulitis on several occasions. Brock Lesnar's severe illness in the stomach caused the downfall of his professional fighting career.
Brock Lesnar's UFC Success Story
Brock Lesnar's a proven success story in both the wrestling and MMA world, as he's still a widely-known figure in both industries. After leaving WWE in 2004, Brock Lesnar took up professional fighting a few years later. Although he had only one fight before signing with the UFC in late 2007, Brock Lesnar proved to the doubters that he could hang with the best UFC had to offer in its heavyweight division. It's not surprising, considering Brock Lesnar's a physical specimen, which also helped his successful background in collegiate wrestling.
In late 2008, after only having three professional fights, Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to capture the UFC Championship. Brock Lesnar's star power in UFC skyrocketed even higher when defeating Frank Mir in a rematch at the historic UFC 100 PPV, this time defending his UFC Championship. Garnering interest from both wrestling and MMA fans, Brock Lesnar successfully established himself as one of the biggest stars in MMA.
Brock Lesnar's First Bout With Diverticulitis
While Brock Lesnar's rise to the top was impressive, it wasn't without overwhelming setbacks. In late 2009, as Brock Lesnar was supposed to defend the UFC Championship against Shane Carwin at UFC 106, it was delayed as he became very ill. Initially postponed until UFC 108, Brock Lesnar didn't get cleared to compete as his illness got worse. At that point, Brock Lesnar wasn't close to being healthy enough to compete, as he had to go through an uphill battle regarding his health and well-being.
While getting infected with mononucleosis, Brock Lesnar also had diverticulitis. Such a disease would require surgery and a long time of recovery. For those who may not be familiar with what diverticulitis is and how severe it can get, it's a disease where one's digestive tract has an infection. These infections lead to inflammation, causing pain in the abdomen and other symptoms.
Most cases of diverticulitis usually last from days to weeks, but severe cases often require surgery. In Brock Lesnar's case, he had surgery in November 2009 to fight off diverticulitis. After that, Brock Lesnar was slated to return to his fighting career in the summer of 2010.
On July 2010, Brock Lesnar returned to face Interm Champion Shane Carwin for the Undisputed UFC World Heavyweight Championship at UFC 116. Although Brock Lesnar struggled in the first round against Carwin, he became the Undisputed World Heavyweight by winning via submission in the second round.
After initially suffering a severe case of diverticulitis, it's an incredible feat of athleticism that Brock Lesnar was able to recover and win the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. The only question was, could he continue his dominance with the competition level advancing in the UFC?
Brock Lesnar Has Another Round Against Diverticulitis
In late 2010, Brock Lesnar suffered his worst defeat since the start of his MMA career at the hands of Cain Velazquez at UFC 121. After the loss to Velazquez, Brock Lesnar's fighting career took a turn for the worse when he was hit with another round of diverticulitis, missing his next expected fight against Junior Dos Santos in the summer of 2011. Because of this, Brock Lesnar underwent another surgery in May 2011, removing a 12-inch piece of his colon during the procedure.
In December 2011, Brock Lesnar returned to action at UFC 141 against Alistair Overeem after over a year of inactivity. However, this would be Brock Lesnar's final match as he suffered a dominant defeat from Alistair Overeem after being struck in the repaired stomach, losing via TKO. After retiring from MMA only a few months later, Brock Lesnar returned to WWE in mid-2012.
What If Brock Lesnar Never Dealt With Diverticulitis?
In 2015, after many years of being back in the WWE, Brock Lesnar stated on the Steve Austin Podcast that he attributed the diverticulitis illness to why he retired from MMA. Brock Lesnar also alleged he'd still be in the UFC if it weren't for the diverticulitis. As it was clear that Brock Lesnar had an itch to come back to the UFC while in WWE, he did return to UFC in mid-2016 to fight at the UFC 200 PPV against Mark Hunt.
Who knows where Brock Lesnar's MMA career could've gone if he hadn't been struck with diverticulitis more than once. However, one shouldn't discredit his contributions to MMA despite the limited experience he had at the time. Because of what he accomplished in UFC, some could argue that he's worthy of a future UFC Hall of Fame induction.