Top 12 Highs & Lows Of Brock Lesnar’s UFC Career

Though his entire MMA resume spans just eight professional fights, Brock Lesnar’s rollercoaster career packs in more highs and lows than most fighters experience in a lifetime of competition.

Indeed, Lesnar’s meteoric rise to success in the UFC remains unparalleled, even in in age where we’ve witnessed the ascent of other superstar fighters like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.

From signing for the UFC after just one pro fight, to becoming heavyweight champion in his first year in the Octagon, what Lesnar achieved in such a short space of time is unprecedented, and helped make him the biggest draw in the sport.

In this article we’ll track the key moments of his time in the UFC, from his biggest wins to his most crushing defeats, as well as touching on some of his most controversial moments, and the health scares that threatened to end his career.

1. Signing With The UFC

When Brock Lesnar initially decided to pursue a career in MMA in 2007, there was no guarantee that he was going to get picked up by the UFC.

In fact, according to Lesnar himself, even after making a successful debut in the Hero’s organization in Japan, Dana White wouldn’t return his phone calls about signing for the promotion.

Lesnar was not going to take ‘no’ for an answer though, and so he hatched a plan to speak to White face-to-face by purchasing a ticket for UFC 74, then vaulting over a guardrail and evading security guards after the show to reach him.

His bold strategy appeared to win White over, and Lesnar was elated when the deal was signed, telling Joe Rogan in an interview at UFC 77 that, “I finally made the big-time, baby!”

2. Losing To Frank Mir

 After all the excitement surrounding Lesnar’s arrival in the UFC, his debut in the co-main event of UFC 81 in Las Vegas back in February of 2008 was practically over in the blink of an eye.

To be fair, the UFC hadn’t given him an easy first fight to find his feet in the promotion, putting him up against former heavyweight champion Frank Mir, despite this only being the former WWE superstar’s second pro fight.

In the end it took just 90 seconds for Mir to seize upon a fight-ending kneebar submission, but Lesnar hadn’t been a complete flop on the night.

Despite his limited MMA experience, Lesnar had actually put Mir in serious trouble prior to the stoppage with thunderous ground and pound, and if the referee hadn’t momentarily stopped the fight not long before the finish to penalize him for hitting the back of his opponent’s head, the outcome may have been very different.

3. First UFC victory against Heath Herring

Undeterred by losing his first UFC fight, Lesnar stepped back into the Octagon six months later to face another seasoned MMA veteran in Heath Herring at UFC 87.

This time Lesnar came out with all guns blazing and dropped Herring with his first punch of the fight, literally sending him rolling backwards across the length of the Octagon.

Herring was a wily veteran though, and survived that disastrous start, but Lesnar proved that he did belong in the UFC by controlling the fight on the mat for the full 15-minute encounter, bloodying his opponent up with a steady diet of ground and pound.

After his unanimous decision victory, Lesnar demonstrated that he wasn’t out to make friends in the Octagon, as he pointed and laughed at Herring, then mimicked lassoing him.

4. Beating Randy Couture To Win The Heavyweight Title

Even at this early stage, the UFC knew they had a major star on their hands, and so, despite having just one win in the Octagon to his name, they made the unprecedented move to propel him straight to a title shot against the legendary Randy Couture at UFC 91 in November of 2008.

Lesnar looked like a giant next to the 45 year-old Couture, but ‘The Natural’ had 11 years experience fighting at the highest level in the Octagon, while the former pro-wrestler had just three MMA bouts on his record.

The first round was mainly a grappling affair, but midway through the second round Lesnar clobbered Couture with a right hand that crumpled him to the canvas, then sealed the TKO victory with a hail of hammerfists.

So, against all the odds, Lesnar was now the UFC heavyweight champion after defeating a legend of the sport, and to cap it all off, UFC 91 also solidified him as the biggest draw in the sport, pulling in over a million pay-per-view buys.

5. Defending The Title Against Frank Mir At UFC 100

With his superstar status in the UFC confirmed, Brock Lesnar was the obvious choice to lead the historic UFC 100 show in July of 2009 in a rematch against Frank Mir.

The hype for this stacked show, which also included GSP in the co-main event, was off the charts, and the fact that Lesnar and Mir absolutely despised each other only fueled fans’ interest in seeing them fight a second time.

The opening round was all Lesnar as he took his rival to the mat and mauled him for the better part of five minutes.

In the second, Mir landed a couple of confidence-building strikes, but then over-committed on a jumping knee and slipped to the mat. That proved to be a critical error, with Lesnar then able to maintain suffocating top control and go on to bombard him with brutal blows that mashed his face into a bloodied pulp and all but knocked Mir out before the referee stepped in to end his misery.

This was undoubtedly the peak of Lesnar’s career, defeating his most bitter rival by TKO in the main event of UFC 100, with what proved to be a record-breaking 1.6 million viewers watching live on pay-per-view.

6. UFC 100 Post Fight Meltdown

Lesnar’s post-fight antics are worthy of a page to themselves, and almost landed him in hot water before he’d even had a chance to savor the biggest moment of his career.

The 265-plus pound monster paraded around the Octagon after the win, and as a still-dazed Mir staggered to his feet, Lesnar displayed a lack of sportsmanship by mouthing off at him, angrily brushed aside security guards attempts to usher him away and then flipped off the thousands of Las Vegas fans in attendance who had started booing him.

To cap it off, in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he mocked the fans that were voicing their disapproval, claimed that he’d pulled a horseshoe out of Mir’s ass and beat him over the head with it, suggested that he was going to have sex with his wife, and then dissed one of the UFC’s most coveted sponsors, Bud Light by saying he’d be drinking Coors Light instead.

Needless to say, the UFC brass were not the most pleased, and after a stern talking to backstage, Lesnar sheepishly apologized for his behavior at the post-fight presser and professed his love for Bud Light while sipping from a bottle of it.

Whether you consider his post-fight meltdown a high or a low, there’s no doubt that it only served to generate more interest in this larger-than-life character.

7. Career Threatened After Being Diagnosed With Diverticulitis

If UFC 100 was Lesnar’s highest high, then the unexpected announcement a few months later that he’d been diagnosed with diverticulitis was surely the lowest moment of his time in the UFC.

Lesnar had been scheduled to fight Shane Carwin in late 2009, but instead found himself battling with the career-threatening digestive disorder, which first struck him down during a camping trip in Canada, leaving him with an intense pain that he described as being like taking a shotgun blast to the stomach.

At the time doctor’s estimated that Lesnar may actually been suffering adverse effects of the disease for as much as a year, and it appeared as if surgery was the only answer.

However, in early 2010, a rejuvenated Lesnar claimed that a change in his diet had led to a miraculous recovery, and that he was now ready to resume his career.

8. Amazing Come-From-Behind Win Against Shane Carwin

With his diverticulitis illness supposedly behind him, Brock Lesnar returned to action a year later against Shane Carwin at UFC 116, almost exactly a year after his triumphant win over Frank Mir at UFC 100.

The first round of the fight was a complete disaster for the champion, with the exceptionally heavy-handed Carwin dropping him twice in the opening 90 seconds, and then unleashing a sustained ground and pound assault that had him on the verge of being finished multiple times.

Somehow, the battered and bloodied Lesnar made it out of the round, but at that stage in the fight things were looking very bad for him.

However, Lesnar wasn’t done yet, and came out for the second round grinning at his opponent. As the action commenced it became very obvious that Carwin was virtually running on empty after having put everything into finishing the champion in that initial five-minute spell.

Lesnar was able to capitalize on Carwin’s labored movement by taking him to the mat, and not long afterwards was able to lock up his exhausted opponent in a fight-ending arm-triangle submission.

One of the most impressive comebacks in UFC history had been watched by over 1.1 million fans on pay-per-view, leaving no doubt that Lesnar was a true fighter with heart, even if it led to serious questions about his ability to take a punch.

9. Losing The Title To Cain Velasquez

Lesnar wasted no time in getting back on the saddle after his win over Carwin, and less than four months later he was stepping back into the Octagon to fight dangerous rising contender Cain Velasquez.

On paper, this had the potential to be Lesnar’s toughest fight to date, and that’s exactly how it turned out.

Lesnar started brightly enough, managing to get Velasquez down twice, but despite his size advantage, he couldn’t keep the challenger down.

Then Velasquez turned the tables, taking him down to his knees and landed a series of blows to the head. While Lesnar got up after that, he was still rocked and soon after he went reeling haphazardly across the length of the Octagon following a failed takedown attempt.

Velasquez turned up the heat, landing a series of punches and then a knee to the midsection that dropped the champion to the canvas. Lesnar then endured a sustained ground and pound assault, and when he briefly struggled back to his feet, he was straight down again with more punches and the fight ended by TKO soon afterwards.

So, Lesnar had lost his title convincingly with yet again over a million fans watching on pay-per-view, and this was just the start of a Lesnar’s rollercoaster career’s rapid downhill descent.

10. Undergoing Surgery For Diverticulitis

In January of 2011, Lesnar somewhat reluctantly agreed to appear as a coach opposite Junior dos Santos on The Ultimate Fighter Season 13, with a title shot on the line for the winner of their end-of-season fight.

That fight was scrapped mid-way through the season however, after Lesnar suffered another troubling setback in his battle with Diverticulitis.

Lesnar checked into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and would eventually undergo surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon, again leaving doubts as to whether he’d ever compete again.

11. Retiring From UFC After Loss To Alistair Overeem

Ahead of schedule, just seven months after surgery to remove a large section of his colon, Lesnar was back in action at UFC 141, the traditional end of year show in Las Vegas.

This time he’d be facing the debuting Alistair Overeem, who’d been on a rampage through the sport’s other leading promotions, scooping up Strikeforce, DREAM, and K-1 kickboxing titles along the way.

By this stage Lesnar no longer seemed to have the same aura as before, with his medical issues and trouble taking shots from the likes of Carwin and Velasquez leading to doubts about his chances of getting back to winning ways against ‘The Reem’.

Those doubts would prove to be well-founded as Overeem took just 2:26 to TKO the star after specifically targeting his body with kicks and knees that eventually folded him to the canvas, followed by punches.

The fairytale story appeared to be well and truly over now, and Lesnar confirmed it, stating afterwards that, “This is the last time you’ll see me in the Octagon,” paving the way for a return to the WWE.

12. Announcing His Unexpected Return At UFC 200

Over the years there had occasionally been talk of Lesnar returning to the UFC, but it always fizzled out before coming to fruition, and when he signed a new long-term deal with the WWE in 2015, that appeared to be the end of the story.

However, the UFC then caught everyone by surprise when they revealed Lesnar would be returning after a four a half-year absence to fight Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200.

The now 38-year-old Lesnar revealed that it had been he who had set the ball rolling for a return, believing that he has unfinished business in the Octagon, while stating that in his opinion his losses in the UFC were more due to his battle with Diverticulitis than anything else.

It remains to be seen if Lesnar can rediscover the old magic, but there’s no doubt that absence has made the heart grow fonder. There’s a major buzz about his return to action, and as such, UFC 200 may yet prove to be the biggest pay-per-view in the history of the sport.