Mark J. Rebilas — USA TODAY Sports
Brock Lesnar should return to the UFC. He’s only 36 and he can still hang with most of the heavyweights in the division.
Lesnar is currently tearing it up in the WWE, embroiled in a hot angle with CM Punk. The match is billed as “The Beast vs. The Best,” and has emerged as the main attraction at SummerSlam.
Lesnar had the best of both worlds in the UFC. He was immediately put in the main event matches and given a title shot in his fourth professional fight. At the same time, he was under the microscope, with his every move and failure scrutinized. Lesnar soared to the top quickly, then tanked, losing the title to Cain Velasquez.
Worsening matters for Lesnar was his bout with diverticulitis, which slowed down his MMA progression and forced him into a long layoff after winning the title. Lesnar, of course, retired after his knockout loss to Alistair Overeem. Even though Lesnar is blessed with rare physical gifts, the diverticulitis drained him of much of his fighting spirit.
UFC President Dana White is a great businessman, but he dropped the ball with Lesnar. White should have found a way to keep Lesnar in the UFC, even if it was just in some sort of ambassador role with the possibility of an occasional fight. You can’t make Lesnar fight if he doesn’t want to, but having him near the sport would probably fuel his desire to come back.
He’s still a bigger draw than anyone else in the sport, including Ronda Rousey and Georges St-Pierre. Imagine the PPV buy rate for a match between Lesnar and Jon Jones in Jones’ debut fight in the heavyweight division? White should sign Lesnar again and keep him around even just as a special attraction.
Based on his performance in the WWE, it’s clear that Lesnar still has a lot left in the tank. His intensity has skyrocketed and he has become a better talker in the WWE. Lesnar is still viable as a heavyweight. He’s not the white Bob Sapp or Kimbo Slice. Lesnar would destroy both of those guys.
He is a legitimate athlete with a lot left to prove. If Junior Dos Santos can knock out Velasquez in 64 seconds, Lesnar can certainly be viable again in the heavyweight division.
Joshua Molina is a mixed martial arts and pro wrestling writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECMolina and add him to your network on Google.
