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The only combat sports venue in which you will be able to catch Brock Lesnar from here on out is a wrestling ring.
The 44-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE champion said his time in MMA is over.
“That door is closed,” Lesnar confirmed to The Post ahead of defending his title at WWE’s live event at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. “You know what, Dana White, the Fertitta brothers [Lorenzo and Frank] were exceptional to me.”
Paul Heyman, Lesnar’s friend and longtime on-screen advocate in WWE, alluded to the end of the athlete’s MMA career last September in an interview with Z100, saying Lesnar was more likely to “have a shootout in soccer with [Lionel] Messi” then return to the cage.
Lesnar’s last MMA fight was against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in July 2016. His win was overturned to a no contest after he failed a drug test for the banned substance clomiphene, an estrogen blocker. Lesnar, who won the UFC heavyweight championship in 2008, finished his career 5-3-0 (1 NC). The promotion’s current title holder in that weight class is 35-year-old Francis Ngannou.
“I’m too old,” Lesnar said. “That’s a young man’s sport, and that door is closed. I’m Brock Lesnar, the WWE Superstar.”
Lesnar, who is set to face WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns in a unification match on Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 on April 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be making his first appearance at Madison Square Garden since March 2018. While he doesn’t perform at non-televised events too often, he has made it a point to make it to the Garden over the years — partly because of the meaning the building has to WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
“I’ve developed a relationship with Vince about it, and I like New York, and I like coming to the city, and I like coming down and putting some ass whoopings down,” Lesnar said. “I enjoy it. I like to come and eat a good steak in the city, and the Garden has a sentimental effect on me too.”
Those ass whoopings will just no longer be coming in the octagon.
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