Brock Lesnar has made up his mind. He has retired and walked away from the sport that has been there for him on the twilight of his career. With only eight professional fights, he had sold out every arena, raked big pay-per-view buys and filled out ring-side seats with celebrities.
For most of his life, Brock was the achiever—an accomplished amateur wrestler, WWE champion at age 25 and a UFC heavy weight champ. He was a born winner who stuck to the old ways of getting to the top—train, sleep, family and fight. This is what champions are made of—feet on the ground with sheer determination. This is what the fans appreciated him for.
He goes to the ring with 100 percent confidence and tries to destroy his opponent with fierce brutality and strength, and yet he remains humble enough to accept defeat.
While he could still fight and get other marquee matchups, he decided to hang up his gloves while he is still on top of his game—while he still can fill up the arena, get bigger pay-per-view shares and while people still have faith in him.
He has seen how former champions have fallen. Randy Couture and Chuck Lidell fought so hard to get back to the top only to falter and find themselves dominated by younger opponents. Lesnar never sees himself going that road. He has too much pride and too much bravado.
On his victory against Shane Carwin at UFC 116, Brock was quick to say, “I’m the baddest s.o.b. on the planet.” Everyone agreed. He was always straightforward and unpredictable. That makes him a media darling in the UFC a craft he masterfully practice on his brief stint in the WWE. However, Brock was always true to his words.
When he fought Alistair Overeem, Brock’s biggest chance of winning was to pin him down but he only went for one take down. It was clear that Brock’s game plan is to go toe to toe with UFC’s biggest striker. If he wants to win, he wants to dominate you in your game. But it only took one knee into Lesnar’s midsection that changes everything.
It was a realization that has brought him to the realms of entertainment and back to reality.
No one stays in the game forever…
So, Lesnar admitted defeat and walked away. He was UFC’s highest-paid superstar, but stars can only shine so bright before they slowly lose luster.
The baddest S.O.B. on the planet will only have to concentrate on two things this time—eating and family.
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