“The Beast” Brock Lesnar is reportedly retired from UFC for good, and is now being advertised for a WWE return at June’s Saudi Arabia event. Following a successful amateur wrestling career, Lesnar was quickly signed by WWE in 2000, then debuted on TV in 2002. Sporting a great look and equipped with natural athletic ability, Lesnar was quickly pushed as one of WWE’s top stars of the future, beating The Rock during his rookie year to capture the WWE Championship. Lesnar was at or near the top of the card for a little less than two years, before making the surprising decision to leave WWE and try to pursue a professional football career in 2004.
Needless to say, Lesnar’s sudden exit from WWE after WrestleMania XX led to bad blood between he and the company. When Lesnar’s NFL dreams didn’t come true, he transitioned into a career as an MMA fighter. Lesnar debuted for UFC in 2008, losing his first fight, winning his second, and then defeating Randy Couture in his third to become UFC Heavyweight Champion. Lesnar’s UFC career ended up being marred by medical issues though, specifically a bout of diverticulitis, and he announced his retirement from MMA in 2011.
In 2012, Lesnar patched things up with WWE, and has played the role of a “special attaction” ever since, only wrestling a few times a year and only on big pay-per-view cards such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam. Lesnar made a one-off return to UFC in 2016, and last summer, he challenged current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier to a fight. However, it now looks like that fight will never happen, as UFC boss Dana White tells ESPN that Lesnar has officially retired from MMA. “He told me he’s done. He’s retired,” White says of Lesnar.
It’s well-known that Lesnar usually signs one-year contracts with WWE, normally covering from WrestleMania and WrestleMania, unless he and the company negotiate an extension. With White having previously said he’d love to book a fight between Lesnar and Cormier, many fans had assumed that following his loss of the Universal Championship to Seth Rollins in early April at WrestleMania XXXV, Lesnar was going to exit WWE and begin prepping for his UFC return. Now, it appears that Lesnar won’t be making any such return to the octagon at all.
Sure enough, it’s now been revealed that Lesnar won’t be gone from WWE for long. The Mayor of “Suplex City” will return to WWE on June 7, for WWE’s latest live event from Saudi Arabia. Despite criticism last November for continuing to deal with the Saudis after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it seems WWE remains undeterred about its big money deal with the country. Lesnar has appeared at both prior Saudi shows, and is being advertised for this next one too. Also advertised is Lesnar’s old rival Bill Goldberg, who hasn’t wrestled for WWE since WrestleMania XXXIV, and WWE icon The Undertaker.
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Sources: ESPN, WWE