2010-01-09 00:02:00
Brock Lesnar Is Back Training, According to Randy Couture
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Rumors as to the health of Brock Lesnar have been swirling for months, ever since the UFC heavyweight champion had to pull out of UFC 106 with a mystery illness.
The illness, originally diagnosed as mononucleosis, ended up being more serious than expected.
It turns out that Lesnar was suffering from diverticulitis, an intestinal disorder that causes extreme pain and discomfort. In addition, diverticulitis overtaxes the body's immune system.
Earlier in the year, Lesnar underwent surgery to (hopefully) fix the problem. This week, according to UFC president Dana White, doctors would be evaluating the UFC heavyweight champ to see if he was properly recovering from the disorder.
If Lesnar wasn't healing properly, then he would need to undergo "major" surgery which might be career-threatening. At the very least, it was thought, Lesnar would be out two years if he had to undergo this major operation.
Earlier this week, Dana White confounded UFC fans when he said that he had "no comment" as to Brock Lesnar's condition. Love him or hate him, most UFC fans want to see Lesnar back in the UFC, and White's cryptic message regarding Lesnar's health worried many.
Surely the news was bad if White was simply offering a "no comment", right?
Later in the week, some positive news started to leak.
Brock Lesnar's trainer, Marty Morgan, said that Lesnar "will fight again". He offered that the public would find out "soon enough" as to when Lesnar might be coming back to the Octagon.
Ok, more positive news, but still - would this mean that Lesnar would be out for all of 2010, as many people were assuming?
Not so fast.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture (who now considers Lesnar a friend) had this to say on HDNET's Inside MMA recently:
Couture not only says that Lesnar is back to training, but also guesses that Lesnar will be back in the spring.
This would be fabulous news for pretty much everyone if this turns out to be true.
It's great news for the UFC, as Lesnar is easily their biggest draw.
It's great news for fans of the UFC, who can now start dreaming of Lesnar vs Mir/Carwin, Lesnar vs Nogueira, Lesnar vs Velasquez or even Lesnar vs Fedor fights in the future.
It's great news for Brock Lesnar and his family as well. Love him or hate him., Brock Lesnar is a husband and a father, and it would be great news to hear that he is healthy once again.
It's great news for Frank Mir as well, as he seems hellbent on getting a rubber match with Lesnar.
Let's assume that what Randy Couture said is true (why would he lie, he said he talked to Lesnar), and that Lesnar will be back in the spring.
It somehow wouldn't surprise me if Dana White said to Brock "Let's keep the news of your return quiet for now. At the end of the Mir/Carwin fight at UFC 111, we'll have you come out to the Octagon to get in the face of whoever wins."
Can you imagine if, for instance, Mir beat Carwin at UFC 111, and then Brock Lesnar jumped into the Octagon to get in the face of Mir and set up their rubber match? I can't even imagine the level of hype if something like this took place, and I certainly wouldn't put it past Dana White (he is a promoter, after all).
The whole "no comment" thing from Dana White always struck me as being a bit strange. Dana White has been saying that he needs to keep the fans informed all along, despite the protestations of the heavyweight champ (who would prefer that any information regarding his health be kept 100% private).
And now, all of a sudden, Dana White is offering up a "no comment"? I don't think so.
Sounds like the champ is going to be back much sooner than anyone previously expected.
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