The Beast conquered another victim on Saturday night at UFC 200 in Las Vegas.
Brock Lesnar beat Mark Hunt by unanimous decision at one of the UFC’s biggest events of all time. Lesnar showed what an elite athlete he is after a five-year layoff and controlled most of the fight. Lesnar won the first and third rounds in relatively convincing fashion and almost had Hunt knocked out by the end of the fight.
The immediate question becomes if this was Lesnar’s last fight in the UFC.
Lesnar is still under WWE contract and will face Randy Orton at SummerSlam, but was noncommittal leading up to the fight when asked if he would compete in the UFC again after Saturday’s fight with Hunt. It is also unclear if the WWE would allow it.
ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman reached out to both Vince McMahon and Triple H after the fight.
“Brock is the most formidable combat athlete in the history of the country.” said McMahon
Triple H added, “To come back after all this time and put on that kind of performance speaks to the once in a lifetime type of athlete that Brock is.”
At his post-fight press conference Lesnar was asked about fighting again and said, “Brock does what Brock wants to do.” He also said that he hasn’t had this much fun in a long time.
WWE had been hesitant to promote the fight, likely fearing what a loss would mean for Lesnar. They did not mention it once on television but did some promotion for it online, including streaming the show’s ceremonial weigh-ins on their website.
There was a video package before Lesnar’s fight with him talking about what led to his return. He said that he felt cheated and that injuries took away his career. He also confirmed that he was the one that called UFC about returning.
Shortly before the fight began, there was a 30-second commercial for SummerSlam focusing on the Lesnar vs. Orton match. There was also a Lesnar-centric ad for WWE 2k17, though that was bought by 2k Sports rather than WWE itself. The videos weren’t shown in the arena.
Lesnar came out to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica instead of his WWE theme. His wife Rena (the former Sable) entered the Octagon briefly to congratulate him after the fight.
This was Lesnar’s first mixed martial arts fight since 2011. He originally left WWE in 2004 due to various issues including unhappiness with the travel schedule. He attempted to make the Minnesota Vikings roster in 2004 and had a brief stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling before beginning a career in MMA.
Lesnar debuted for the UFC in 2008 with a loss to Frank Mir, but had almost immediate success after that both as a fighter and a draw.
He became one of the biggest stars in UFC history, winning his next four fights and defeating Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight championship. But Lesnar left the sport in 2011 after complications with diverticulitis and losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem.
Lesnar returned to the WWE in 2012 and has been consistently booked as a top star since.