Brock Lesnar fielded questions solo to kick off the post-fight press conference at UFC 200 on Saturday night, and addressed a number of topics from his fight with Mark Hunt, his future in MMA, and more. Here are some highlights:
On whether or not he’ll be allowed to fight again: “Let’s get one thing clear. Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do. I believe that my future is already laid out for the next month. I’m doing Summerslam against Randy Orton. Once the dust settles there I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I had one hell of a time tonight, and I enjoyed myself, so we’ll see what happens. So I don’t know. It’s really way too soon, guys. I have no idea… I’m pretty excited. My body’s feeling pretty good, excluding my eye. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. Never say never. I took five years off, but I’m reaching the big 4-0 here, so we’ll be realistic about it.”
On fight with Mark Hunt and his performance: “I don’t know if they were his best shots or not. I felt ’em. The mystery’s gone, I guess I can take a shot. I just stuck to the gameplan. I’ve been out of this game for five years, people. For me to step back into the cage, really short notice, and put a camp together, I couldn’t have done it without all the people that supported me. I stuck to the plan, I took some good shots, I took him down. It was the wrestler vs. the power hitter, he never ‘knocked the f*** out of me,’ and here I am. I’m happy.
“Breathing a little hard? Well you take a guy down and you pound on his head who ain’t gonna breathe a little hard? I never felt fatigued at all. I was cool, calm, and [collected]. I knew that if I could stand and hang and bang and take some shots from Mark, there ain’t a guy I believe in the UFC heavyweight division that I can’t take down. I mean I’ve taken every single guy down that I’ve fought against, including Cain Velasquez. I didn’t keep him on the ground but I did take him down. Shane Carwin, I took him down. And we’re talking five years ago people. I’m a 39-year-old man, and I’m pretty proud of myself.
“Well I wanted to finish the fight, but the guy’s got a coconut head. My ground and pound, I’m sure he’s going to feel it tomorrow just like I’m going to feel his punch tomorrow. He’s a stand up guy. We had no bad blood against each other. He’s a tough son of a bitch. He is. He took a lot of good shots from me, and I took some from him. Would I have liked to end the fight? Absolutely. But I won.”
On difference in preparation from previous UFC run: “Just the whole training camp was different. My prior training camps five years ago were pretty depressing camps. I’d train for a couple days and take five days off. Train for three days and take a week off. Come on, I had 12 inches of my colon removed, jumped back into the Octagon three months later. Who does that s***? Come on. I’ve been gone five years, I step back into the Octagon tonight with a guy ranked #8 in the world. You can write what you want to write but I think I’m the toughest son of a bitch and I’m top ten [and] it puts me right in the game. Granted, I’ve got some work to do, but don’t we all? And if I want to make that decision and keep fighting I will.”
On nerves and whether he could make another title run in the UFC: “Absolutely. Absolutely there were a lot of nerves. But you’ve got to keep an open mind. Many days and many nights I took myself back to prior training camps. This is a mental game. It really is 85-90% mental. I believe this game is a mental game. If you put the work in, good things are going to happen. I’m speechless. I was excited to be in there. It’s been a long time. Mark knocked the dust off me and away we went. I haven’t had that much fun for a long time… Well I believe any man can do whatever he wants if he puts his mind to it. I’ve been out of this game for five years and I stepped back in the cage, trained for six weeks, and I think I put a good beating on Mark Hunt tonight. I think anything’s possible ain’t it.”
On Cain Velasquez’s UFC 200 performance and whether he’d take that fight again: “He looked good… Sure, absolutely. I trained specifically for Mark Hunt. I trained for six weeks for Mark Hunt. If I decided to do this a little further, would I have to sharpen some skills? Absolutely. Cain looked really good tonight. He always looked good.”
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Penick’s Analysis: Lesnar was rightfully in great spirits at the post-fight presser. Sporting a black eye, he was relatively jovial, joking around, including a line about heading out to drink a Coors Light, sorry, Bud Light. This was a big night for him. He’s back in the win column, his options are very much open, and absolutely can do whatever he feels like doing next. He’s back to the WWE for the next month or so, and from there who knows. Don’t be surprised in the least if we see Brock Lesnar at Madison Square Garden inside the Octagon.
[Photo (c) Joshua Dahl via USA Today Sports]
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