Brock Lesnar was the greatest popcorn fighter in the history of combat sports. We savored every taste all the way down to the bottom of the bucket. But now the bucket is empty.
While some would rather stick around and lick their fingers for the salty remnants from four years ago, the rest of us have already moved on.
Lesnar is D-O-N-E fighting. The former heavyweight champion gracefully passed on a contract reportedly worth “10 times” as much as his previous UFC contract to stay with World Wrestling Entertainment, per Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.
“My legacy in the Octagon is over. However, my legacy this Sunday at WrestleMania will not be my last,” Lesnar said on ESPN SportsCenter in an interview with Michelle Beadle.
In Japanese, Italian and English, that means sayonara, arrivederci and goodbye.
Lesnar, who battled diverticulitis toward the tail end of his MMA run, made the smartest decision a 37-year-old with plenty of money, a UFC title on his shelf and limited fight experience could make.
He chose to walk away.
Some will likely criticize Lesnar for being in the right place at the right time. Let’s face it: The UFC heavyweight division wasn’t anywhere near as crowded back then as it is now. UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, a natural light heavyweight, was still dumping heavyweights on their heads at the time.
Just as the division started to hit its stride, Lesnar fell ill and was diagnosed with diverticulitis, an intestinal disorder. After multiple surgeries, no one can say for sure whether it was the illness or facing tougher opponents that ultimately did Lesnar in. The sports world is just left with a bunch of what-ifs.
What if Lesnar never got sick? What if he had more time to develop his skills? What if he chose MMA first?
These questions will never be answered, and as far as Lesnar is concerned, they never have to be. He is a former UFC champion, and his name will forever be etched in MMA history. One could even argue that Lesnar was the first cog in the wheel that really put the UFC over in the mainstream sports community.
He was the one-man circus act everyone had to see.
We all tuned in at UFC 81, bursting at the seams with excitement as Lesnar made his UFC debut against former heavyweight champ Frank Mir. A quick trip back to the UFC video vault unlocks a whirlwind of nostalgia, sweeping fight fans off their feet once more in the Lesnar craze:
This isn’t some b——t scheme. I’m coming to this fight to win, and that’s no b——t. … I can just picture [Mir’s] eyeballs getting big as I dump him on his head, and he doesn’t know where the hell he’s at. And all of a sudden, I’ve got these fists in his mouth, buried down his throat and I’ll pull his head off.
Is this guy serious?
This was the question running through the minds of every hardcore MMA fan. Mir was a world-class fighter with years of experience. The notion that Lesnar would waltz right into the UFC and defeat a top contender wasn’t just asinine—it was asi-10 to the Stephen A. Smith degree.
Mere logic told us Mir would win handily, but MMA is a sport where logic and reason mixes like oil and water. No one looked away, and it was a good thing no one did. Aside from “pulling Mir’s head off,” Lesnar did everything he said he was going to do. He dumped Mir on his head and went throat-scuba diving with his fists.
The outcome didn’t matter. No one cared about Mir’s rally to pull out a first-round submission after being folded like an accordion. The talk of the town was the legitimacy of Brock Lesnar and his roofless ceiling of potential. MMA media would never be the same again after that night.
Luke Thomas, journalist for MMAFighting.com, put Lesnar’s meaning to the sport into perspective in a Twitter post:
This is the second and hopefully final farewell to MMA’s greatest circus act. Lesnar’s UFC run is perfect as it is, beginning to end, and it would be nothing short of gluttonous to attempt to indulge in seconds. Sequels rarely top the original.
Those of you lucky enough to witness it will live on and tell others about that time you saw Lesnar, a WWE wrestler, sign with the UFC and win the heavyweight title with a 2-1 record.
You’ll tell others how this massive, larger-than-life figure emerged from the locker rooms with “Enter Sandman” blaring across darkened, sold-out arenas. You might even pop open a Coors Light and snuggle up with your significant other since Bud Light “didn’t pay Lesnar enough.”
Dust off your hands and leave those emptied buckets by the wayside. The curtains have closed on Lesnar’s MMA career, and they should forever remain that way. Thank you, Mr. Lesnar, for all that you’ve done.
Sayonara, arrivederci and goodbye.
Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.
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