FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Penick's Take PENICK: Overly dire reports on Lesnar's condition premature, camp says "nothing life threatening", what to do with the heavyweight division

Nov 16, 2009 - 7:15:40 PM

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

There are a lot of unknowns going around when it comes to just what condition UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is currently in. With the post UFC 105 press conference comments from UFC President Dana White on Saturday painting an extremely bleak picture, with him throwing out phrases like "career threatening" and "life threatening" as possibilities from Lesnar's mysterious turn for the worse, there has been speculation running rampant that the Champ will never fight again.

Those thoughts seem to be quite premature, with multiple comments from both Lesnar's camp and those close to him quelling the issue somewhat, it appears that Lesnar is expected to be alright. While it will keep him out of action for a significant amount of 2010, he will, barring any further complications, likely return to action next year.

A quote from Lesnar's camp to MMAWeekly.com stated that Lesnar's current condition is "Nothing life threatening like the reports, just some complications with his illness and he had to be hospitalized for antibiotics."

On top of that, "The Superstar" Mike Morris, host of am radio station KFAN's "Power Trip Morning Show" in Minneapolis, and a close friend of Lesnar's and his family, had the following to say on his program Monday morning: ""in respect of Lesnar and his family, I know what it is and he's going to be ok, but he is very sick and I know what it is. But I don't want to release what it is because they could find something different while they're trying to narrow it down but they're about 95% sure of what it is and they've got this thing in the right hands right now... We're going to be looking at five to six months until he'll be in fighting shape… I'm confident after talking with his father last night that he's going to be ok, they caught it in time... the Champ will be in the Octagon sooner rather than later."

So from the sounds of these comments, while Lesnar's condition is serious, it looks to have been caught and they are fairly confident that he will be alright and will make a recovery. Obviously the time frame is not near being determined for sure, but he should be coming back hopefully midway through the year next year.

That leaves us with what's to be done about the heavyweight division with the Champion sidelined for a much longer time than originally planned. The problem lies with the fact that many at the top of the division are also out of action, so setting up an Interim Championship may be out of the cards as well.

Reports had surfaced that Shane Carwin had undergone knee surgery, but he was simply advised not to grapple for three weeks during training after getting an MRI on the knee, according to a report from Heavy.com. He would be available to fight Cain Velasquez likely in February, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira pulling out of the 108 bout with Velasquez due to severe staph infection, but that bout should not be for a Title if Lesnar is going to be able to return by July. That would leave him out for no more than a year and with the circumstances being what they are, an Interim Champ need not be crowned just yet. The Carwin-Velasquez bout could determine the next challenger, much like it would have had the two faced off in October, but then that would be up to Carwin as to if he wanted to take the risk of losing his guaranteed Title shot by not waiting out Brock's return.

No, the heavyweight division doesn't need an Interim Champion; instead, until it is known that Brock Lesnar will either not return until near the winter of 2010 or he actually won't be able to return at all, the division's Title simply needs to be put on hold until the Champ can defend it himself. It's been allowed to other Champion's battling illness and injury, and should be at this time. Hopefully the comments from Morris are correct and they are 95% sure they've figured out what is wrong with him and he will make a full recovery.

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