Following an especially successful WWE run from 2002 to 2004, Brock Lesnar became some of the talked-about athletes within the country. Shortly after his successful and expensive WWE run, Lesnar jumped ship to the NFL, before moving to Japan for an additional wrestling profession.
Nonetheless, after trying his hand at different sports, Lesnar settled in MMA and UFC. His UFC run began with a loss in 2008 against Frank Mir. Despite losing, Lesnar was offered a brand new contract. Nonetheless, he didn’t enjoy a seamless and smooth run when trying out for a UFC profession originally.
Speaking on the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Lesnar revealed that UFC President Dana White “wanted nothing to do with” Lesnar. “Dana White wanted nothing to do with me,” Lesnar said. “He wouldn’t return my phone call.”
“So what happened was I fought on the LA Coliseum for K-1 Dynamite. After which I desired to get into the massive leagues. And there was just one big league on the time, it was UFC. So my team reached out and desired to do something with the UFC,” Lesnar said. “So I said, screw it, and I purchased 4 nosebleed tickets to the MGM Grand, where Randy Couture was headlining against Gabriel Gonzaga for the Heavyweight championship. I sat there within the stands through your entire event, and as soon as Randy won that fight, I scaled the safety railing, ran to the Octagon, grabbed Dana, and I introduced myself. I said, I’m Brock Lesnar and we went to the back, and he says, well, listen, I’ll offer you a shot.”
Brock Lesnar talks getting a cope with the UFC and the way Dana White wanted nothing to do with him at first.
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Brock Lesnar’s rise in UFC
His shot got here against the MMA veteran, Frank Mir. While Lesnar lost against Mir, there still remained hope for him. “I went back to the locker room, and I used to be like, I screwed it up,” Lesnar said. “After which Dana is available in. He’s like — because they know the pay-per-views buys immediately, right? So the numbers will need to have been really, really good— Dana is like, ‘No, you’re not done.’ After which the following day, we negotiated an actual contract.”
Negotiations soon led to a full contract, and Lesnar later went on to turn out to be UFC heavyweight champion by defeating Randy Couture at UFC 91.