Post subject: After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar returns
Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:09 pm
After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar plans summer return to UFC action
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) says through a "miracle" of medicine, he will avoid surgery and return to the octagon this summer.
Lesnar, along with UFC president Dana White, made the announcement on this morning's addition of ESPN's "SportsCenter."
The appearance was the heavyweight champion's first interview since being forced out of action with a series of ailments.
The illness, which Lesnar confirmed was initially diagnosed as mononucleosis and then diverticulitis (or as Lesnar clarified in layman's terms, "a hole in my stomach"), has kept the champion out of action since July 2009 and forced the massive wrestler out of a scheduled November UFC 106 headliner with Shane Carwin.
Lesnar said he lost nearly 40 pounds after missing nearly three weeks of training camp and during an 11-day hospitalization and was told by multiple doctors that surgery was unavoidable. The champion said he continued to hold out hope that he could avoid an invasive procedure – which he says would have removed a portion of his colon and would have been career-ending – and through what he classified as "a miracle," a follow-up appointment on Jan. 5 showed his body had begun to heal itself.
"[The doctors] were dumbfounded," Lesnar said. "They couldn't find any problem in my stomach. It's just a miracle to me.
"I actually had to go to the doctor yesterday before I came out here and get another CT scan on my stomach because I just still can't believe it."
While an exact date for Lesnar's return was not announced, White said he hoped to have his champion back in the octagon "this summer."
As Lesnar continues his recovery, the UFC has booked an interim title fight at UFC 111 between former champion Frank Mir and top challenger Carwin, who was slated to face the champion before his illness struck. White said the winner of that contest would be in line for the first crack at Lesnar.
Should the winner of that fight prove unable to compete, White said the UFC 110 bout between fellow contenders Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera would serve as a backup plan and provide Lenar's first foe.
Lesnar, who said he has already put about 30 pounds of mass back on his frame, said the traumatic, roller-coaster ride of the past six months has forced him to take a different view on life.
"I believe the mind is a powerful thing," Lesnar said. "I was put in a position, and I had to view my life and the world in a different (manner). I had a different take on life. When you have everything taken away from you, and you're laying helplessly in your hospital bed, not sure if I'm going to even get back in the octagon, something that I've grown to just love to do – this is my life."
Despite the changes, Lesnar wanted to clarify that one thing has remained the same.
"Lets be clear with that: I still am the UFC heavyweight champion," Lesnar said.
Both Lesnar and White will take part in a media conference call later today to further discuss the situation. Stay tuned to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) for the latest on Lesnar's impending return.
Post subject: Re: After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar returns
Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:28 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:56 pm Posts: 268
This is good news indeed. Glad to see Brock is coming back and will be fighting by summer. Amazing that he's already gained 30lbs of muscle in at most a couple of months of what was surely cautious training at best, not having had the all clear until yesterday and not even being told he was healing before 5th January. Must be an extremely easy gainer...........
Or gained a whole bunch of water/fat.
Also, I don't think that the winner of Carwin/Mir should be passed over on their opportunity to get first crack at Brock even if they are injured. Brock should be made to wait until the winner can compete against him - especially if it is Carwin.
Post subject: Re: After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar returns
Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:33 pm
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:08 pm Posts: 10
Ummm, Am I the only one who finds that story REALLY hard to believe? Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but this looks like a cover-up of some sort to me. Let's recap:
A guy in peak physical condition just randomly comes down with a mysterious illness, that is barely discussed at all by his trainer or promoter, which leads to another illness, which causes a hole in his stomach, causing him to lose weight, then when surgery seemed inevitable he just "miraculously" doesn't have this illness that has kept him from being able to train, and the hole in his stomach is healing itself, healing so well that he has already gained back a great portion of the weight lost to what was a debilitating, career threatening illness?
I've heard a lot of far-fetched stories in my lifetime, some more far-fetched than this, that turned out to be true. But something about this just doesn't sit right with me. This guy got a heavyweight title shot in just his 4th professional fight. I don't see how a debut in an unrelated promotion with a win over a no-name competitor, then a loss to a former heavyweight champion, then a win over a former contender for the heavyweight title, earns a title shot.
Don't get me wrong here, I really wanted to like Brock Lesnar when he came into UFC. He appeared to respect the sport and his opponents. The turning point appeared to be his "win" over Randy Couture for the strap. At that point he turned into an egotistical, arrogant asshole of a fighter. His behavior after the 2nd Frank Mir fight was one of the most disgusting things i've seen in fight sports (This was recently topped by Shinya Aoki though at K-1 Dynamite!). Now, this happens. I have to say that I do hope for Brock Lesnar's return, but only for the hope of seeing someone beat the crap out of him.
The rest of this is only speculation and bears no accusations of any sort, but it seem perfectly reasonable to me that Brock Lesnar may have tested dirty for one of several performance enhancing drugs and Dana White was able to intercept this test before the information reached any authorities. Then Dana could have told Brock to disappear for a while and "clean out", with the illness as a cover, making it able for him to come back and fight again. This would explain why he seems to be in the same shape today as he was after his last fight. Again though this is merely speculation.
TL;DR - I don't like brock lesnar and he probably cheats.
Post subject: Re: After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar returns
Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 3:18 am
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:24 pm Posts: 143
Come on, guys, hold your horses. People get sick. "Peak physical condition" can be a mixed blessing, too. As for his "Miracle", this kind of thing happens, too. Apply occams razor to your claims, and wait for concrete evidence of either.
_________________ "Protect your caterpillar from Kimbo Slice!"
Nice how he took the political jab at Canadia heathcare. Sure, that's nice and all if you're wealthy enough to afford any doctor on the planet. And the whole "miracle" and holistic "medicine" bullshit... [rolls eyes]
Post subject: Re: After medical "miracle," champ Brock Lesnar returns
Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:26 am
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:49 am Posts: 545
UPDATE While the MMA world has known about Brock Lesnar's struggle with various mystery ailments for several months now, few specifics made their way to the public.
Today, following an appearance on ESPN's "SportsCenter" in which he professed a clean bill of health, Lesnar opened a bit more about his harrowing experience and road back to recovery.
"Everybody has life-changing experiences, and this is one of them for me," Lesnar said on a media call this afternoon. "I believe everything happens for a reason."
Lesnar said what happened to him was a slow-developing illness.
"I had been suffering for almost a year with something I didn't really know what it was," Lesnar said. "I had some stomach pains here and here and some flu-like symptoms throughout the year. Actually, during the training camp against Shane Carwin is when everything just kind of snow-balled. That's when I realized.
"I was missing full weeks of my training camp because I just couldn't perform in my camp. That's when I decide four weeks out to give [UFC officials] hopefully enough notice to say – hey, listen, the last thing I wanted to do was to come in and give a bad performance and risk losing my title. That's when it really all accumulated."
The preliminary issues led to the delay and, ultimately, cancellation of Lesnar's scheduled bout with Carwin. It was then the severity of Lesnar's condition began to become a real concern to himself, the UFC, and MMA fans and observers.
Preliminary observations
Lesnar received a series of diagnoses that ran from swine flue to mononucleosis. Not satisfied with the opinions, Lesnar elected to take time off at his property in Canada. It was there the situation took a turn for the worse.
Despite previous reports that his intestines were leaking, Lesnar claimed that was not exactly the case, though the problem was severe enough to encourage the heavyweight to seek professional advice.
"It was not leaking," Lesnar said. "If it had been, it would have protruded. But my abscesses were so large that my body was infected. What happened is that my body couldn't gain all the nutrients that it needed. I couldn't eat enough food to gain enough energy.
"This stuff just doesn't come overnight. I've had it for awhile, so my stomach isn't doing the job it needs to do. Finally, it just exploded on me, and that's what put me in the hospital."
Unfortunately from Lesnar's perspective, the hospital he was in fell under the Canadian care system. On today's call, Lesnar spoke candidly on his opinions of that experience.
"Probably the low point was getting health care from Canada," Lesnar said. "Not to get into the political side of things, but our health-care system is a little radical, but we've got the best doctors, I believe, in the world here (in the U.S.). Our system does need some restructuring, but I don't believe a total reform is the answer.
"The only reason I'm mentioning this is – I'm mentioning this to the United States of America, because President Obama is pushing this health-care reform, and obviously I don't want it. I'm a conservative Republican. ... I'm speaking on behalf of Americans. I'm speaking on behalf of our doctors in the U.S. that don't want this to happen, and neither do I."
High-speed escapes and rapid recoveries
Save for a little political grandstanding, Lesnar went on to explain he harbored no ill will toward the people or country of Canada. He simply prefers his medical care take place in his native land.
"I love Canada," Lesnar said. "I own property in Canada. But if I had to choose between getting care in Canada or in the U.S., I definitely want to be in the U.S. Canadians, don't get me wrong here. Listen, I love Canada. Some of the best people and best hunting in the world. I have family up there. But I wasn't at the right facility.
"They couldn't do nothing for me. It was like I was in a third-world country. I just looked at my wife, and she changed my life, and I had to get out of there."
Lesnar and his wife did leave the facility, and the champion said his spouse drove him "100 miles per hour" back to Medcenter One in Bismarck, N.D.
Once under Medcenter One's care, Lesnar had what he classified as a "small procedure" done.
"They stuck a six-inch needle through my stomach and drained three pockets and removed 14 cc's of fluid out of my stomach," Lesnar said. "The next morning I was able to eat, and that's when I decided I had enough of the hospital and proceeded to go home."
Lesnar said he dropped all the way down to 248 pounds during the process (a mark he joked he hadn't seen since the second grade), but he was currently up around 273 pounds as he prepared to begin his mini-camp. And the culprit for his near-career-ending ailment? A poor diet.
Permanent changes
"What got me here was a total protein diet, not enough fiber, and that's where I was," Lesnar said. "I totally changed my diet, got on some natural healing medicine, and was just doing a lot of praying. I had a lot of people praying for me.
"I'm a carnivore. I'm not a big fan of PETA. I'm a member of the NRA, and whatever I kill, I eat. Basically, I was just for years surviving on meat and potatoes. When the greens came by, I just kept passing them."
That will change going forward, and Lesnar said he's going to be certain not to repeat the mistakes of his past.
"It's now a part of my life. When I'm at home, which I'm there a lot, I have total control of my diet. When I'm on the road, it's kind of a little more harder to do. But it's just making sure I have a well-balanced diet.
"Why would I go back to my old ways? I don't want to be back in that position ever again. I'm doing change for the better, not for the worse."
And while Lesnar's life as a multi-millionaire, professional athlete, and mixed martial arts champion may be difficult for most people to relate to, he did have a message that could ring true with many citizens – both American and Canadian.
"[The experience] gave me a different perspective on life and my family," Lesnar said. "I'm a young guy. These things aren't supposed to happen. I consider myself a healthy human being. I'm 32 years old, and for something like this to happen to me, I definitely have to re-evaluate.
"When you think you're doing all the right things, and then all of a sudden something like this happens, obviously you're not. I have to make some changes."
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