Lesnar shuts door on UFC return, TJD out of UFC 186 w/ injury

Published on Tuesday, 3/24/15, at 7:42 p.m. Eastern.

For several months, many UFC fans have been hoping that Brock Lesnar would return to the Octagon when his contract with the WWE expired this month. Lesnar’s appearance at UFC 184 in Los Angeles only bolstered the notion that Lesnar was serious about coming back.

However, in an interview on ESPN earlier tonight, Lesnar shut the door forever on a comeback in mixed martial arts. The former UFC heavyweight champ revealed that he re-signed with Vince McMahon and the WWE last night.

Lesnar went 5-3 in MMA, 4-3 in the UFC. On Nov. 15 of 2008, Lesnar won the heavyweight strap by knocking out Randy Couture in the second round at UFC 91. He would successfully defend his strap twice in victories over Frank Mir and Shane Carwin.

But shortly after the win over Carwin, Lesnar learned that he had diverticulitis and he was never the same fighter again. In his return after surgery, Lesnar got destroyed by Cain Velasquez via first-round KO. After losing again by first-round KO to Alistair Overeem, Lesnar announced his retirement inside the Octagon. He would return to pro wrestling several months later.

“I’ve been training to get back into the Octagon,” Lesnar said on ESPN. “I felt physically great, but something lacked mentally and that’s not good.”

“I talked to Dana (White), I talked to Lorenzo (Fertitta), Vince (McMahon), my wife, my friends, I had many sleepless nights and at the end of the day, I was born to be an entertainer and I have fun doing it.”

“I’m officialy closing the door on the sport of MMA. I signed last night with the WWE. We came to a conclusion last night.”

Lesnar’s announcement wasn’t the only bad news for UFC officials today. T.J. Dillashaw was forced to withdraw from his UFC 186 title defense against Renan Barao due to a rib injury.

The new main event will be Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi for the 125-pound title. If the promotion doesn’t add a big fight to this event, pay-per-view sales are going to be awful.

 

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