Brock Lesnar is one of the few athletes who succeeded in both MMA and pro wrestling. He became a world champion in WWE at 25 years of age and then won the heavyweight title in UFC in his third fight for the promotion. When Lesnar first went into MMA, he was in the prime of his career and was hungry to prove himself. After finding success in UFC, Lesnar’s journey ended on a sour note as he left the company in 2011 after losing to Cain Velasquez and having a prolonged battle with diverticulitis.

Lesnar signed with WWE and once again thrived in sports entertainment. However, he wanted to put things right in his MMA career and made a return to the octagon in 2016. After being away from MMA for five years and being much older this time around, this wasn’t going to be a smooth transition for The Beast.

But in an interview before his return to the octagon at UFC 200, Lesnar talked about how being with WWE for five years made his transition to UFC much easier.

Brock Lesnar said his UFC return to UFC if not for WWE

Brock Lesnar has been a top athlete all his life. He became the NCAA champion in 2000 and went on to prove his mettle further. After returning to the WWE in 2012 following his brief but successful UFC run, Lesnar got the itch to go back to the octagon five years later.

There were doubts about Lesnar’s ability to compete in MMA the first time, but the second time the question was around his stamina and physical condition. Lesnar said that because of him still wrestling for WWE, he stayed in shape and hadn’t stopped working out and exercising. He further said, due to this, his transition wasn’t really hard.

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He stated, “In the back of my mind, like I’m still working for the WWE and still staying in shape. And still you know, having lots of respect for my body and wanting to compete every day. So I never really stepped away from working out or exercise or anything like that. So it wasn’t real hard transition for me to get in from pro wrestling shape to be in Ultimate Fighter shape.”

Lesnar further explained that being active in WWE helped him to make the transition, otherwise it would’ve been really difficult. The former WWE Champion added, “It’s not like I’ve been sitting on the couch for five years. I’m not to say it wasn’t hard. But if I had been sitting on the couch for five years it’d be next to impossible.”

Pro wrestling is a very grueling and physically demanding sport. It requires the wrestlers to be in no less than peak fitness and perfect body shape. As such, five years of performing for the WWE meant Lesnar had to be at the top of his game physically.

And when the time came to make the transition to UFC and prepare for his return, it wasn’t that big of a deal for The Beast.

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