Brock Lesnar talks about his brief but stellar UFC run and went on to compare Vince McMahon with Dana White.
Brock Lesnar has been at the top of the sports entertainment mountain for many years now. The former NCAA Division I wrestler made his name with the WWE in the early 2000s before making a brief but stellar run in the UFC from 2008 to 2011, and a one-off return in 2016.
Given that experience, you can expect him to say a lot about his big bosses, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and UFC president Dana White. And he did just that during his most recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
“Dana’s alright. I got a lot of money from him. I probably should’ve gotten paid more,” Lesnar said.
“I really can’t compare the two guys. Honestly, my relationship with Vince is so different than it is with Dana over the years. Vince and I have had a love-hate relationship for the last 20 years, but it’s been good. We’ve got a lot of water under the bridge. I have a lot of respect for both men.”
The 44-year-old Lesnar did go deeper into his comparisons a little bit, stating how McMahon and White are different in their approach to doing business.
“Dealing with Dana, it’s just a totally different business approach. I look at Vince more as a father figure because I’ve learned a lot of things from him. And I was able to carry those things over and handle business with Dana,” he explained.
“Vince is a self-made person, so is Dana. Took the company and made it public.”
While he says he isn’t following the sport that much anymore, Lesnar had some comments on the current state of the UFC.
“I don’t watch a lot of fighting anymore, ‘cause there’s just so many guys. It’s hard to follow,” he explained. “I wish Dana could figure out how to book things differently. Like, ‘Come on, man, let’s start getting behind some of these guys and protect somebody for a while so they can become a household name and you could cha-ching ‘em.’
“But he’s in the business of putting on super fights every week. It’s tough to do. And it’s tough to stay on top.”
After a controversial outcome of his UFC 200 fight with Mark Hunt in 2016, Lesnar was slated for another UFC run in 2018. He was already going through multiple USADA drug tests per week in preparation for a comeback against then-champion Daniel Cormier, but the bout didn’t materialize.
In 2019, Lesnar announced his retirement from MMA competition through Dana White and had since continued his career with the WWE.
As for the money he mentioned, Bloody Elbow’s business analyst John Nash notes that UFC lawsuits have revealed more details on Lesnar’s purses. He previously had side deals of $750,000 as a non-champion and $1.6M as the champion. For his final two fights though, documents show that he likely took home $3 million at UFC 141 and $8 million at UFC 200.