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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Brock Lesnar has officially closed the door on returning to mixed martial arts, revealing on ESPN's Sportscenter that he's re-signed with the WWE.
"It was a very hard decision at this stage of my career," Lesnar said. "The fighter inside me wants to compete. The father and husband - I'm an older caveman now. I make wiser caveman decisions. So, I'm here to say my legacy in the Octagon is over...
"It was a hard decision to make. It took me a year. I've thought about this for a year. At the end of the day, it's all about me wanting to have fun. The money is great, but the lifestyle... The last two-and-a-half months I've been training to get back into the Octagon. I felt physically great, but something lacked mentally. And that's not good."
Lesnar said he spoke with everyone he could, from Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta in the UFC, Vince McMahon in the WWE, his wife, his friends, and more to help him piece together his decision. Ultimately, while he had a desire to end his UFC run differently, he realized he was simply "born to be an entertainer."
"I could go back to the Octagon, and what am I gonna gain? I was the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world. Due to my illness, my career got cut short. And that's God telling you, 'it's time to move on.' As the years went by, it wore on me so much that the fighter inside of me didn't want it to end that way. I didn't want it to be like that. I didn't want to leave the UFC on a losing streak, that's just the competitive side of me.
"I'm officially closing the door on MMA."
Penick's Analysis: This was the right move for Lesnar. He felt he had some unfinished business, but as he said, a return to MMA may have been for the wrong reasons. I didn't ever expect him to fight in the UFC again, and now that's officially the case. He'll be better off in the WWE, and he'll be better there than he would have been coming back to the UFC.
[Brock Lesnar art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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