Brock Lesnar staying with WWE despite UFC doubling offer at last second
Brock Lesnar announced on Tuesday that his MMA career is officially over, as he has signed a new contract to remain with the WWE. The 37-year-old told ESPN’s SportsCenter that he made a very difficult decision to turn down the UFC.
“It was a very hard decision at this stage of my career,” Lesnar said. “The fighter inside me wants to compete. The father and husband — I’m an older caveman now. I make wiser caveman decisions. So, I’m here to say my legacy in the Octagon is over.
“It was a hard decision to make. It took me a year. I’ve thought about this for a year. At the end of the day, it’s all about me wanting to have fun. The last two-and-a-half months I’ve been training to get back into the Octagon. I felt physically great, but something lacked mentally — and that’s not good.”
Lesnar told the Associated Press that UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta pushed hard to get him to reconsider, even offering to double the UFC’s initial offer after Lesnar told Fertitta and Dana White that he was sticking with wrestling.
“Lorenzo said to me, ‘Can we sharpen our pencil? Can we double it?'” Lesnar said. “I said, ‘It’s not about that. I’m calling you to tell you where my heart is, and it’s not about the money.’
“And then in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, ‘Well, yeah, it is about the money, but I don’t have to beat myself up for it.’ To prepare for another MMA fight, we’re talking 16, 18 weeks of pure hell, and then the cage door shuts and it’s on.”
In an interview with FOX Sports shortly after Lesnar announced his decision, White said he was “happy” for the former UFC heavyweight champ and that he heard Vince McMahon made Lesnar an offer he couldn’t turn down.
Either something changed in the last several weeks, or Lesnar knew he was staying with the WWE all along and is a great negotiator. For a while it was reported that Lesnar had hit a contract snag with McMahon and company and that WWE executives expected him to return to the octagon.
H/T MMAfighting
