Brock Lesnar is battling diverticulitis again and has been forced to pull out of his scheduled June 11th fight against Junior dos Santos, the UFC announced Thursday. Shane Carwin will step in and replace Lesnar by taking on dos Santos.
On a conference call with the media, Lesnar said the diverticulitis is not as serious as last time when he was afflicted by a “mystery condition” and had to pull out of his November 2009 fight. But it impacted his training. The diverticulitis will not end Lesnar’s career, but he is seeking treatment for the intestinal condition. Lesnar said he was at Mayo Clinic for 14 hours on Wednesday and said his immune system has been run down.
Lesnar said he’s been dealing with symptoms the past three months and that the condition prevented him from properly preparing for a title fight. It was only a year and a half ago that Lesnar had to pull out of his UFC 106 fight against Shane Carwin. After undergoing surgery, Lesnar was able to return to the Octagon and face Carwin at UFC 113 in July, 2010.
The good news is that Brock should be able to recover from the condition and continue fighting. Also, the replacement fight is enticing as well — Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos should be a fun battle. Dos Santos probably doesn’t have the same negative feeling towards Carwin as he did Lesnar, but these are two of the top heavyweights in the UFC.
