Brock Lesnar Press Conference Expected in Las Vegas Next Week
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani (I have embedded the interview below), Dana White revealed that there might be a press conference in Las Vegas on "Tuesday or Wednesday" of next week that will deal with the current status of UFC heavyweight champ, Brock Lesnar.
Dana White wouldn't reveal if there would be good news or bad news, only that "there will be news".
The UFC president also revealed that Brock Lesnar will be in attendance for the press conference.
Brock Lesnar last fought at UFC 100, when he smashed Frank Mir via a second-round KO to unify the two heavyweight titles.
Lesnar was originally slated to square off against Shane Carwin at UFC 106, but eventually had to pull out due to a mystery illness. The problem was eventually diagnosed as intestinal diverticulitis, a condition which causes the immune system of the body to work in overdrive. Fecal matter was leaking from Lesnar's intestines, and this was causing a great deal of trouble for his immune system. The champ collapsed while visiting his brother in Canada, and eventually the proper diagnosis was made.
The future of UFC's undisputed heavyweight champion has been in question for months now. Lesnar had surgery to (hopefully) correct the condition, but there was no guarantee of success. There was a chance that Lesnar would eventually require major surgery to fix the condition, which would, at best, result in Lesnar being on the sidelines for two years.
The condition of the notoriously private Lesnar has been shrouded in mystery for months now.
Recently, Lesnar's trainer and Randy Couture have both come forward with more positive statements regarding the future of Lesnar, but we have still not heard from the champion himself as of yet.
Randy Couture, in public comments made last week, offered that he believes that Lesnar will be back in the Octagon by the spring of 2010.
There are three things that I could potentially see coming out of this press conference:
1. Brock Lesnar announces that he is 100% healthy once again.
2. Brock Lesnar announces that he will not need major surgery, but that the recovery process is taking longer than expected and that he will be back in 8-12 months
3. Brock Lesnar announces that he will need major surgery and is either retiring or giving up the belt
In my opinion, option #1 is by far the likeliest choice of the three.
Would the UFC schedule a press conference, in Las Vegas, if there was going to be very bad news announced? I can't see this happening. I could see a tersely worded press release, but I can't see an actual press conference in Las Vegas that included the champ. I mean - would a visibly weakened and distressed Lesnar actually want to appear at a Las Vegas press conference? I really doubt that.
My guess is that Dana White has been sitting on some good news, and that Brock Lesnar will officially announce that he is 100% healthy again next week. I also suspect that Lesnar will have some choice words for both Shane Carwin and Frank Mir, and that he is looking forward to fighting the winner of Carwin/Mir sometime in the summer.
