What Happened to Brock Lesnar? Brock Lesnar, a staple of the WWE and former UFC heavyweight champion, has not…
What Happened to Brock Lesnar? Brock Lesnar, a staple of the WWE and former UFC heavyweight champion, has not been seen for some time on television.
What Happened to Brock Lesnar?
Brock Lesnar was a NCAA collegiate wrestling standout who transitioned into professional wrestling with the WWE. Later on, he would dip his toes in MMA and was able to capture a UFC title by defeating then-champion Randy Couture. Eventually, he would lose this title to Cain Velasquez. But, due to a bad case of diverticulitis, Lesnar decided to leave his MMA career behind and focus on the WWE. What Happened to Brock Lesnar in the UFC? He got diverticulitis and could no longer compete.
But, what happened to Brock Lesnar in the WWE? Brock Lesnar’s current status with WWE is complicated due to legal issues stemming from a lawsuit filed by Janel Grant. The lawsuit involves allegations against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and the WWE, with Lesnar being potentially named as someone Grant was trafficked to. As a result, WWE’s legal team has decided to keep Lesnar off television until the situation is resolved.
Most recently, Lesnar lost to Cody Rhodes in 2023. He was initially expected to participate in events such as the 2024 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XL, but his involvement was scrapped due to the lawsuit. Although there were rumors that WWE’s ban on mentioning Lesnar had been lifted, there has been no official word on his return to WWE programming.
Triple H has stated that WWE is open to discussing Lesnar’s return when the legal situation is clearer. However, it is ultimately up to WWE to decide when and if they want him back on screen. For now, Lesnar remains in a state of limbo, with his return contingent on the resolution of the legal issues surrounding the lawsuit.
The Dutch-born Alistair Overeem fought Brock Lesnar in the UFC and Chuck Liddel in PRIDE FC. ‘The Demolition Man’…
The Dutch-born Alistair Overeem fought Brock Lesnar in the UFC and Chuck Liddel in PRIDE FC. ‘The Demolition Man’ has had a storied career all around the globe. Recently, with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Overeem named who was tougher between Brock Lesnar and ‘The Iceman’ Lidell.
Brock Lesnar or Chuck Liddell
Brock Lesnar was a former WWE competitor and a standout in NCAA collegiate wrestling. The heavyweight athlete transitioned to MMA and was able to capture the UFC heavyweight title by defeating Randy Couture. Lesnar and Overeem fought at heavyweight with the Dutch athlete taking a TKO win.
‘The Iceman’ Chuck Liddell is one of the fighters who helped establish the UFC as a mainstream sport in the USA. The mohawked fighter stood out for his knockout style. The former UFC light heavyweight champion was entered into the PRIDE FC tournament in Japan. The US-born Liddell had a back-and-forth war against Overeem before knocking him out. Liddell would go on to lose to ‘Rampage’ Jackson in this Grand Prix.
Alistair Overeem
The Dutch athlete Alistair Overeem has fought across the world in multiple organizations. He was able to capture titles in DREAM, Strikeforce, and K-1. Additionally, he competed in GLORY, PRIDE FC, and the UFC, among others. Throughout his storied career, he has faced legendary figures such as Badr Hari, Francis Ngannou, Stipe Miocic, Junior dos Santos, Mirko Cro Cop, ‘Shogun’ Rua, Peter Aerts, Vitor Belfort, Igor Vovchanchyn, plus, of course, Chuck Liddell and Brock Lesnar.
On comparing Lesnar and Liddell, Overeem explained:
“Chuck in PRIDE. When I was young, I was 23 when I fought him, I didn’t know anything. Training was not good, no strength from the conditioning. My coaches back then … Lucien [Carbin] was kind of a traditional coach and his stuff didn’t work. I mean, the knees worked, but other than that. I didn’t see any low kick, high kicks. All that stuff didn’t work.”
The Dutch-Surinamese Lucien Carbin was one of the first students at the Mejiro Gym, in the Netherlands, founded by Jan Plas. This was one of the gyms responsible for transitioning Kyokushin karate to Dutch style Kickboxing.
Frank Mir headlined one of the highest-grossing events in UFC history and was left with little to show for…
Frank Mir headlined one of the highest-grossing events in UFC history and was left with little to show for it.
Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center on July 11, 2009, the promotion delivered its first centennial event, UFC 100, featuring a blockbuster heavyweight championship main event pitting division staple Frank Mir against WWE Superstar turned MMA fighter Brock Lesnar. Selling 1.6 million pay-per-views, it was the biggest event in UFC history at the time and still holds strong as the promotions’ fifth biggest seller.
With premium cards costing $44.95 at the time, the event produced $71 million in revenue which was ultimately split in half with cable providers, leaving the UFC with roughly $35 million. Mir’s reported purse for headlining the historic event was a meager $45,000 — a little more than 10% of Lesnar’s $400,000. This was before pay-per-view bonuses were factored in.
Mir ultimately walked away with a sum that was still below the $1 million mark. In fact, Mir never once cleared seven figures during his 15-year run with the promotion, making him one of the most underpaid fighters in UFC history. By the time he realized what was going on, it was too late.
“I think when it finally dawned on me was the Deontay Wilder [rematch] with Tyson Fury,” Mir told MMA Fighting. “We still did more buys than they did, me and Brock, and then I’m looking at the pay-per-view cost. OK, the money was there. Who did it go to? Seeing these guys make $40 million combined. I’m like wow. Brock obviously made seven figures off it, I think he made $2.5 million. But I didn’t even make a million.”
The Wilder-Fury fight generated roughly half of the buys that UFC 100 did, hovering in the area of 800,000 to 850,000. But with a price tag of $79.99, the event brought in $66 million. Wilder and Fury were both guaranteed to walk away with upwards of $25 million apiece on top of a share of the PPV revenue. A far cry from what Mir and Lesnar earned for their big-money rematch.
“Brock himself, a much bigger superstar than [Fury or Wilder],” Mir said. “How come he wasn’t making $20 million? That blows my mind, and I don’t understand it. “Until Conor [McGregor] came along, we had the record for the most pay-per-view buys sold.”
Frank Mir Hopeful that his daughter will fare better in the fight game than he did
Looking back, Frank Mir is understandably frustrated by the pitiable purses he had received, but the reality is that the former heavyweight titleholder simply didn’t know what kind of money the UFC was bringing in at the time. Years later, he recognizes that his lack of knowledge and understanding proved to be a costly lesson in an otherwise stellar career.
“At the time, I didn’t know better,” Mir said. “We didn’t know. Just now as time goes on, I’m looking around like, hold on a second, that makes no sense. A pay-per-view buy is a pay-per-view buy. Why is this sport paying their athletes this percentage of what they’re making versus this one? It’s the pretty same makeup. This isn’t two wildly different sports, boxing and MMA. They’re very comparable when it comes to putting up a cage or a ring, so it’s not like the costs are different.
“So what’s the difference here? Oh, that’s because you have competing promoters, and they know what’s going on, and you can’t screw each other. In the UFC, it’s the only promoter. In MMA, the show is the only promoter. It’s not like we’re going to have a Bellator fighter and a UFC fighter, and they’re both on the card, so both organizations know what they’re going to get their guy, because they both understand the revenue models. They understand what’s going on. They’re not speaking from ignorance.”
The issue of fighter pay is still a contentious topic in the world of mixed martial arts. Particularly in the UFC where the promotion typically shares a paltry 15-17% of its revenue with fighters — a downright pathetic percentage when you consider that leagues like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA regularly share 50% of their revenue with athletes, give or take.
Of course, fighters today make more money now than during Mir’s heyday. Knowing that helps the former heavyweight sleep a little better at night as his daughter Bella is prepared to follow in her father’s legendary footsteps.
“I’m not as uneasy about it,” Mir said. “Before, it was like I don’t know that many people who do MMA and don’t still have to do something afterward. Myself included. Doing commentary, working for different groups and organizations. There’s a reason why I’m busy. To know she can make a career and a living off it too, it makes that pill a little easier to swallow.
“As the father in me, I’m like OK, she’s going to be millionaire at least. I’m not as scared about it as I was before. Because you have the risk of injury, and you’re not going to be pursuing other endeavors in life that could take care of you financially, and you’re going to sacrifice that to follow this fight career, and then you’re going to be behind when you go into those careers.
“For what? For personal gain, for martial arts and pushing yourself is awesome, but as a father, it’s like what about your bank account? Your security. Are you going to be able to take care of yourself? At the time, I was terrified. Now, not so much. It’s a better world now than when I was there.”
Tom Aspinall was all in on a “freak show” fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 300. Since winning the…
Tom Aspinall was all in on a “freak show” fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 300.
Since winning the interim heavyweight world title in November, Aspinall has been in a bit of a holding pattern as undisputed champ Jon Jones recovers from a pectoral injury. Even when Jones returns, ‘Bones’ has his sights set on a divisional superfight with former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic instead of the much more logical and intriguing unification clash with Aspinall.
As a result, rumors have been flying about some potential big-money matchups for the Salford, England native. During a recent interview with OLBG, Aspinall expected the promotion to pull together something crazy, like a fight with former heavyweight king Brock Lesnar or a champion vs. champion showdown with Alex Pereira.
“With the Jones palaver and all the politics around that, I was thinking they’d maybe give me some freak show kind of fight against Brock Lesnar, or maybe at UFC 300 they’d do something a bit out there like Alex Pereira but that doesn’t look likely now, I have no idea my next move, I’m kind of waiting about,” Aspinall said.
Tom Aspinall Eyeing Rematch with Curtis Blaydes
Aspinall has stayed ready for a potential appearance at the promotion’s next landmark event on April 13, but as we inch closer to the highly anticipated date, it’s looking more and more like he will enjoy the festivities from the stands instead of in the Octagon.
“I absolutely would be ready for UFC 300, I believe now it’s only three months away and I have been training twice a day since a week after my last fight, so my body is in good shape right now,” Aspinall added. “But there isn’t really a realistic opponent. The only realistic ones would be Pereira or Lesnar and they’re not really realistic.”
The most logical fight out there for Aspinall at the moment is a rematch with the only man who holds a victory over him under the UFC banner, Curtis Blaydes. Razor’ is scheduled for a scrap with Jailton Almeida at UFC 299 on March 9. Should he pass his test against the submission specialist, Blaydes could be in for a shot at Aspinall’s interim strap.
“I think I’ll have a rematch with Curtis Blaydes in the UK,” Aspinall said. “I’ve got one loss on my (UFC) record and it’s by injury to Blaydes. And if he wins his next fight – which is a tough fight – if he wins it makes sense to do me and him again at this point, because let’s be honest, I’m not going to get the Jones or Miocic fight the way it’s going. I like Curtis, but professionally he has a win over me and I don’t want him to.”
Brock Lesnar is not expected to appear at tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble according to a report from PWInsider. The…
Brock Lesnar is not expected to appear at tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble according to a report from PWInsider.
The outlet reported that as of Saturday morning, Lesnar had not traveled to Tampa, Florida where the event is scheduled to take place. One source is said to have revealed that the former UFC champion had been withdrawn from the event and would be replaced by an unnamed wrestler from the NXT brand.
The sports entertainment juggernaut intended on having Lesnar appear at the promotion’s annual showcase of the immortals, Wrestlemania, later this year, but those plans appear to be up in the air after the ‘Beast Incarnate’ was implicated in a lawsuit against WWE founder and former chairman Vince McMahon.
Brock Lesnar Was Promised Sex with plaintiff in exchange for signing a new contract
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon was the subject of a federal lawsuit after he had allegedly sexually assaulted and trafficked a former WWE employee on multiple occasions over their multi-year relationship. The plaintiff — Janel Grant — claims that McMahon not only abused her sexually, but he also forced to her have sex with other executives and WWE Superstars.
Though Lesnar is not explicitly named in the lawsuit, it was reported that he received multiple sexually explicit photos of Grant from McMahon. The complaint also alleges that Lesnar was offered the opportunity to have sex with Grant as part of his signing a new contract with the company. After Lesnar inked the new deal, McMahon allegedly texted Grant “that part of the deal was f*cking U.”
According to the lawsuit:
“That December, McMahon gave Grant’s personal cellphone number to the WWE star, the lawsuit said. The wrestler asked her to send a video of herself urinating, the suit said, and after she did, he called her a “b*tch.” That same month, the suit said, the star expressed a desire to “set a play date,” but a snowstorm disrupted his travel plans.”
If you’re still holding out hope that a big name from the UFC’s past will feature at the promotion’s…
If you’re still holding out hope that a big name from the UFC’s past will feature at the promotion’s massive landmark event on April 13, we’re afraid we have some bad news for you.
UFC 300 is shaping up to be one of the biggest cards in the promotion’s 30+ year history with every matchup slated to be can’t-miss. Thus far, UFC CEO Dana White has revealed a handful of fights, including Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan in a lightweight title eliminator and Justin Gaethje putting his BMF belt on the line against former featherweight champion Max Holloway.
Speaking with Aaron Bronsteter, White confirmed that there are a few more blockbuster announcements to be made regarding UFC 300, just don’t expect legends like Ronda Rousey, Georges St-Pierre, or Brock Lesnar to be among them.
“Ronda is not coming back. GSP is not coming back. Brock Lesnar is like 45 years old. He’s pushing 50,” White said when asked about any potential surprises for the milestone event. “None of those calls were made.”
UFC 300: The Story So Far
Though that might come as a bit of a letdown for some fight fans, White maintains that he is focused on making every fight on the card an important one and handing long-retired fighters a big bag to show up every 7-8 years doesn’t necessarily lend itself to that goal.
Thus far, eight mega-sized fights have been revealed for UFC 300, including: