Dana White: ‘UFC Was Not Even Close To Signing Brock Lesnar’
It seems that Brock Lesnar’s name never goes away in the MMA world, even though he’s now officially announced that his career inside the octagon is over. The latest news surrounding the former WWE World Heavyweight and UFC Heavyweight Champion is that he was never even close to signing with the UFC, according to UFC President Dana White.
The UFC President appeared on 106.7 The Fan, and told host Chad Dukes that he was almost certain that Lesnar was going to pass up the opportunity to return to the octagon, and remain a professional wrestler.
“[We were] not very close at all [to signing Lesnar.] We’d known that Brock was probably going to take a pass and go back to wrestling, which was the right move. You know, Brock came in here, he did incredible things and he got a great deal from Vince (McMahon). He’s 38 years old, man. It makes all the sense in the world.”
Lesnar’s previous WWE deal was worth $5 million a year, to do just three matches a year. Lesnar was also contractually-obligated to make about 20 appearances per year for WWE. It’s been reported that Lesnar got a raise when he signed his newest WWE contract while keeping the same schedule with the company. Lesnar is by far the highest paid active performer on WWE’s roster, and he works a fraction of the dates compared to WWE’s full-time wrestlers.
During his three-year UFC career, Lesnar became one of the faces of the organization, becoming their single biggest pay-per-view draw, as he headlined the UFC’s most successful pay-per-view, UFC 100. Lesnar’s well-documented health issues caused him to hang up the gloves in December of 2011, and he claims that he was lacking something mentally when he was preparing for an MMA comeback, which caused him to officially close the book on his MMA career.
If Lesnar would have returned to the UFC, he had a third fight with Frank Mir waiting for him. Mir handed Lesnar his first ever loss in his UFC debut, and Lesnar completely destroyed Mir in their rematch at UFC 100. Lesnar also had a rematch with Alistair Overeem waiting for him, as Overeem strangely called out Lesnar in February of last year, even though Overeem had already defeated Lesnar.
Right now, Lesnar is probably the most popular wrestler on WWE’s roster, even though he’s almost never around. It’s expected that Lesnar’s next WWE appearance will be in mid-July or early-August, as he was — in storyline — indefinitely suspended by WWE.
[Image via Fox Sports]
