MANILA, Philippines – It was an announcement that no one expected as Brock Lesnar ends his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) and will wear his 4-ounce gloves again to compete at the UFC 200 pay-per-view event on July 9.
Lesnar’s unanticipated return to the Octagon was publicly revealed during the broadcast of UFC 199 on Sunday, June 5 (Manila time) as part of the UFC 200 video trailer.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OH. MY. GOD. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UFC200?src=hash">#UFC200</a><a href="https://t.co/ffhsOYIRvz">https://t.co/ffhsOYIRvz</a></p>— UFC (@ufc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ufc/status/739301917558374400">June 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
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No opponent was named for Lesnar when his comeback bout was confirmed, but UFC officials are expected to make an announcement in the coming days.
Lesnar will fight in the co-main event of UFC 200, which is headlined by light heavyweight championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones.
Under the UFC banner, Lesnar (5-3) had 7 bouts over nearly 4 years, but he saw his MMA career interrupted by diverticulitis, a common digestive disease which involves the formation of pouches within the bowel wall.
The former NCAA Division I wrestler knocked out Randy Couture to capture the heavyweight title at UFC 91 in November 2008 and successfully defended the belt twice before losing the gold-plated strap to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October 2010.
Lesnar had his last MMA match in December 2011, suffering a technical knockout loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.
Following his departure from the sport, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling in April 2012 and inked a lucrative limited-appearance agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
WWE confided that Lesnar remains under contract with the wrestling promotion and is slated to perform at the company’s “SummerSlam” event on August 21. – Rappler.com