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Cape Town - Brock Lesnar is one very special athlete. The man is
a former NCAA college wrestling champion, a former WWE
champion and the former ruler of the UFC's heavyweight division. He is now
just days away from making his octagon return after a 5-year absence from
the sport.
Lesnar (5-3) left the sport in late 2011 after he so violently took it over when he made his professional debut in 2007. The reason for his departure? A bout with diverticulitis that cost him inches of his colon and nearly his life. According to Brock his mind and body were not acting as one and his decision to step away from the sport he loved has haunted him for the last 5-years.
"I've found myself being haunted for five years wanting to get back inside the cage and be a competitor again," he told Megan Olivi during an interview on Wednesday.
"Diverticulitis defeated me and kinda took a lot of the fight out me. My last fight with Alistair (Overeem), I was already trying to recover and I got back inside the Octagon four months after my surgery so I didn't really give my body time to heal nor my mind because it took a lot out of me. You have to regain your confidence and your composure and for most of my life I was living by the warrior code that I'm indestructible and when you get defeated by something other than a human being it humbled me."
During his first stint with the UFC, Lesnar was by far the biggest pay-per-view draw the company had. While his UFC debut didn't go to plan thanks to a Frank Mir kneebar, Lesnar shook the loss off and went on to capture UFC gold just four fights into his MMA career.
At UFC 91 he faced and defeated Randy Coture via TKO to be crowned the new UFC heavyweight champion. Lesnar would go onto defend the title two times against Frank Mir at UFC 100 and Shane Carwin at UFC 116 stopping both men inside three rounds.
Set to return against the promotions most likeable and most dangerous knock out artist in Mark Hunt, Lesnar believes that with his body and mind as one he will walk away with the victory on Saturday night.
"It took a number a years for me to gain my confidence and gain my athleticism back. The mind is a powerful thing and once you get your mind back your mind tends to follow and that's where I'm at right now."
"I feel great, I feel like a kid again, I feel really good and I'm excited about this and training camp has gone so well. Everything is great and everything is lining up."
Sport24 will have live minute-by-minute updates on our Twitter page @sport24 all night long starting at 00:00 (CAT) on Saturday night.
