The UFC lost one of its biggest draws when former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar retired from MMA after suffering a first-round knockout loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.
After taking a year-long break to recover from surgery after a second case of diverticulitis, an intestinal disease, the former WWE superstar didn’t find much success in his anticipated return to the cage and was stopped by a kick to the liver just minutes into the fight.
Lesnar’s trainer, Erik Paulson, recently spoke to FightHubTV about the loss, Overeem’s game plan and what his thoughts are on Lesnar’s retirement.
“I believe that Alistair did a lot of research on how a body heals after it has had diverticulitis, and I think his game plan with the way he crouched, that stance really low, tried to stuff that shot and keep it standing on the feet was actually the game plan,” Paulson said. “The other game plan that he had was the fact that he attacked Brock’s body.
“I know for a fact that if you have a foot of your colon taken out, or your intestines, your body is probably not going to be healed in six months. And if it is healed, is it healed to really take a hard knee that he throws, or a hard kick that he throws? I don’t think so.”
Lesnar retired from the sport with a 5-3 record, which included victories over Randy Couture, Shane Carwin and Frank Mir. Despite having fewer than 10 bouts to his record, Lesnar managed to win, defend and lose the UFC heavyweight title.
“The only thing I don’t like to see is, I don’t really like to see someone retire on a loss,” Paulson said. “I think you should fight again then retire.”
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