Brock Lesnar OUT at UFC 131; Is He Done For Good?

Brock Lesnar pulls out of UFC 31 due to illness

Brock Lesnar was forced to pull out if his scheduled UFC 131 match with Junior dos Santos due to a flare up of diverticulitis. The same disease put him on ice for more than a year before he returned to submit Shane Carwin at UFC 116.

What a buzz kill, dude.

No matter what you think of Lesnar, you should be able to admit that he brings a lot of excitement to the Octagon. I was just getting to the level of anticipation you reach when a fight you have been waiting a long time to see isn’t quite just around the corner but is just around the corner from being just around the corner. That is too say, it was too soon to buy the beer and dip, but it was close enough to decide whose house you would have been watching it at.

This fight would have brought everything you could ask for in a heavyweight fight between two contenders. The heavy handed dos Santos carries thunder in every punch, and the whole world wants to see just how far he can carry that. There is nothing better than a heavyweight who can end a fight with thudding finality at any moment. He is lightning in a bottle. And many other superlative cliches.

Lesnar is coming off the receiving end of two straight ass-kickings, although he did end up winning one of them. Shane Carwin, who immediately stepped in to replace Lesnar at UFC 131, mopped the canvas with him in the first round of their fight. Lesnar showed that he had the heart of a champion by coming back to win. But he was lucky as hell to get out of that first round alive. The fight also raised a lot of questions about Lesnar’s ability to handle the division’s top strikers.

Cain Velasquez answered that question pretty definitively at UFC 121. Velasquez effortlessly beat the tar out of Lesnar, stopping him in the first round. Lesnar looked like he was dating Chris Brown at the end of the fight. He was exposed as being extremely vulnerable to strikers with good takedown defense. But he is still Brock Lesnar. He is a money maker and a top flight beat down artist when he’s healthy.

Which raises the larger question: Can Brock Lesnar be counted on to consistently compete at an elite level ever again?

Brock says that he has failed to “manage” the disease so far, but that sounds like a proud athlete talking. The reality is that it will be impossible for him to ever completely manage his condition. Diverticulitis never goes away, and it will always be a problem going forward.

He can only pull out of so many fights before UFC decides he is not worth the trouble. On the other hand, Brock is a very special person, and the fact that he managed to make it through two camps while struggling with the disease says a lot about his character and desire. But I have to believe a successful comeback of more than a fight or two is a longshot.

Mother Nature is the one thing character and desire can’t always trump.

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