Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is heading back to his wrestling roots according to reports this weekend which indicate he’s poised to sign a new deal with the WWE organization.
While nothing has been officially announced yet it’s rumored that Lesnar will appear at the upcoming Wrestlemania event, and UFC president Dana White has confirmed he won’t stand in his way.
The 34 year-old announced his retirement from MMA competition at the end of 2011 after suffering a one-sided beating against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
Coming off an equally convincing defeat to Cain Velasquez a little over a year earlier and having only scraped by Shane Carwin by the skin of his teeth a few months prior to that, much of the mystique surrounding this man mountain had evaporated, and so it was a decision that didn’t come as a shock too many.
Over and above that there was also Lesnar’s widely reported battle with Diverticulitis which lead to him having 12 inches of his colon removed last year.
It’s hard to say just how much that affected his performances in the Octagon, but it did coincide with his slump in form and if nothing else, his long lay-offs recovering from his two bouts of the disease certainly hampered his development as a mixed martial artist.
Regardless, Lesnar certainly made a big impact in the UFC, clinching the heavyweight title and notching up major wins over the likes of Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, while simultaneously becoming the sport’s biggest draw, regularly pulling in over 1 million viewers on pay-per-view.
After the health issues he’s suffered it’s certainly nice to see that he’s still able to perform, and while pro-wrestling’s just not my thing I wish him well as he returns to the organization that first made him a star.
