UFC
Brock Lesnar says UFC's Lorenzo Fertitta asked if they could offer more money, but mind was made up on WWE return
Mar 25, 2015 - 12:45:37 PM Brock Lesnar says UFC's Lorenzo Fertitta asked if they could offer more money, but mind was made up on WWE return

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Brock Lesnar decided to re-sign with the WWE this week, but not without serious consideration for a UFC return. Lesnar felt he had unfinished business for a time, and the UFC was quite willing oblige his return. However, the offer from the WWE was something Lesnar had to take, and when he made up his mind, not even an offer of more money would have swayed him to change it.

In an interview with the Associated Press after his appearance on ESPN's Sportscenter on Tuesday night, Lesnar revealed that Lorenzo Fertitta asked about offering him even more when he informed them of his decision, but it ultimately came down to more than money.

"Lorenzo said to me, 'Can we sharpen our pencil? Can we double it'" Lesnar said (via Minneapolis' Star Tribune). "I said, 'It's not about that. I'm calling you to tell you where my heart is, and it's not about the money.'

"And then in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, 'Well, yeah, it is about the money, but I don't have to beat myself up for it.' To prepare for another MMA fight, we're talking 16, 18 weeks of pure hell, and then the cage door shuts and it's on."

Lesnar insisted that his confidence during his MMA run was severely affected by his bouts with diverticulitis, but when he tried to think about a return to the Octagon it just "didn't feel right."

"When you're sick for two or three years and you don't know what's going on, all of a sudden I went from the baddest man on the planet, to vulnerable," Lesnar said. "It's reality. My whole life I've been this superhuman freak that just kills people, a savage beast. I wasn't that guy anymore. ... Of course my confidence was totally jaded on my last three fights. Whose wouldn't be? Is Anderson Silva the same guy he was [after breaking his leg]? I've been a barbarian my whole life. I'm just a smarter barbarian now. Evolution, you know?

"I tried to picture myself coming down to the cage, and it was like a bad dream. It just wasn't right. It didn't feel right."

Penick's Analysis: While it was obviously somewhat of a negotiating ploy on his part, I think he was absolutely conflicted with this decision. Still, I think it always made the most sense for him to return to the WWE. With the schedule he's allowed there, for the money he's able to make with them, and with how objectively great he's been in his role the last year, returning to the WWE was the move to make.

[Brock Lesnar art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]