Brock Lesnar has re-signed with the WWE and foreclosed any notion that he would return to MMA in an announcement on ESPN Tuesday afternoon. Lesnar will be in the main event at Wrestlemania 31 on Sunday in Santa Clara, California. The event would have been his last under his current contract if he did not re-sign with the WWE.
Lesnar indicated it was a hard decision but chose to stick with professional wrestling. Perhaps the most practical reason Lesnar stayed was, as he put it that he worked part-time for full-time pay.
In the interview, Lesnar stated that he signed with the WWE on Monday night in Los Angeles where the WWE had an event at the Staples Center. Notably, Dana White was also in Los Angeles promoting the Aldo-McGregor fight. Certainly, there had to be some bargaining leverage for Lesnar with the knowledge that the UFC was in town too.
Lesnar made a very public appearance at UFC 184 in Los Angeles last month causing speculation that he might be considering a return to the octagon.
Payout Perspective:
All we have to know about Lesnar’s return to the WWE is that he’s being paid well for limited work. While competing and being a UFC fighter is great, Lesnar recognizes that he is older, with the level of commitment and amount of injuries he’s suffered in the past, it was probably best to stick with WWE. Lesnar would have still been a draw for the UFC despite being gone from MMA.
The underlying highlight here is that the WWE coordinated with ESPN to break the news. Obviously this helps the WWE with its biggest event coming up this Sunday. The amount of time Lesnar’s announcement was given was probably good for the UFC as well.
He would have been good for one or two more PPVs, probably with an opponents at the Mir or Nogueira level, other than that I don’t know how much he had left.
Hahahaha…why would he sign with a cheapie promotion which has a huge debt and on a decline hahahahaha
Reasons Lesner stayed with the WWE and did not sign with the UFC
1. More guaranteed money, WWE is more stable and if he loses in the UFC he wont make as much
2. WWE made him an offer he would be stupid to refuse, that offer was If you leave the wwe and go to the ufc you will not be welcome back.
3. Brock would have serious trouble passing any drug test.
4. MMA training is bad for his health, hence injuries could happen before he even fights, among other issues that he can hide in the wwe.
5. He is scared to get the dog shit kicked out of him again!
6. Main reason, his wife wont let him!!
Turns out fertita offered to double lesnars pay hahahahaha….ufc is so desperate…..hahahaha
It’s a good move for Lesnar. He’ll be healthier and probably wealthier. Or at least the money he makes will be easy money.
I have a feeling that MMA will survive without him.
Diego, I wouldn’t say he’d be healthier. Look at the toll pro wrestling takes on these guys.
Lesnar made the right decision and has shown good tact in the art of negotiation. Whether or not the WWE had to adjust their offer based on a potential move to the UFC for Lesnar is up for debate, but the perception as presented in the media did indicate as much especially with the speculative “double” offer by the UFC.
Now for those who believe Lesnar would not fair well in the UFC should probably take a closer look at the top 16 in the division as posted on UFC.com. It would not be difficult to imagine Brock getting W’s over at least half of these guys.
Champion : Cain Velasquez
1 Fabricio Werdum (Interim Champion)
2 Junior Dos Santos
3 Travis Browne
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Mark Hunt
6 Josh Barnett
7 Andrei Arlovski
8 Alistair Overeem
9 Ben Rothwell
10 Roy Nelson
11 Frank Mir
12 Matt Mitrione
13 Antonio Silva
14 Gabriel Gonzaga
15 Stefan Struve
1 fight in UFC is equal to a year in WWE they are saying. Bu bu but UFC is cheap and cant pay him according to Tops.