UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will return to the UFC this summer in a unification title fight after a severe intestinal disorder healed itself without surgery, which he and Dana White described as an outright “miracle.”

Lesnar, who has been out of the public eye since pulling out of his fight with Shane Carwin back in November, spoke live on ESPN’s SportsCenter show on Wednesday morning and described the entire ordeal for the first time. Lesnar was diagnosed with having a hole in his stomach and was going to need surgery that would remove part of his colon and effectively end his MMA career. He lost 40 pounds in the hospital and at one point went 11 days without food or water and was fed intravenously. Doctors were “dumbfounded” when the situation healed itself – which he called a “miracle.”

Here’s the ESPN video of the interview along with our detailed recap.

Brock Lesnar told ESPN that during his training for a title defense against Shane Carwin scheduled for last November, he started feeling sick during training. After missing 3 weeks of his training camp, he visited multiple doctors, who couldn’t diagnose what his problem was. Lesnar told his trainer, “Icant do this fight” and he was diagnosed with mononucleosis. He was devastated having to back out of a fight. He decided to make the most of it and travel to Canada for a hunting trip. While there, he experienced severe stomach pain like he’s never felt in his life. He woke up one night with a 104 degree temperature and going into shock. He was hospitalized and diagnosed with a severe case of diverticulitis. He literally had a hole in his stomach.

Lesnar traveled to to the Med Center 1 medical facility in Bismark, South Dakota. Lesnar credited the doctors there for saving his life and career. While there, he lost 40 pounds in 30 days. At one point he went 11 days without food or water and was fed intravenously.

He traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester  to get a second opinion and both facilities recommended he undergo a major surgery that would remove part of his colon, end his figthing career and severely alter his quality of life. Doctors told him they couldn’t perform the surgery until the swelling in his stomach went down and was told to return on January 5th for an update. At this point, he was expecting to undergo the surgery and he knew his fighting career was probably over.

When he re returned to doctors on January 5th, they were dumbfounded to find that Lesnar’s body had healed himself. Doctors told him the medical mystery was like having a winning lottery ticket and called the healing a “miracle.”

Dana White chimed in and said surgery would have changed Lesnar’s life. He held off on surgery and he healed himself. During his town time, Lesnar got into “holistic stuff” and changed his diet, which had a positive effect on his recovery. White too called it a miracle.

When asked if there was any health risks of him returning to mixed martial arts fighting, Lesnar said 3 or 4 specialist told him he has nothing to worry about and can resume a normal career. Lesnar said he’s had colonoscopies, CT scans and there are no signs of anything wrong with him. He said that time in the hospital was especially hard for him because he felt helpless and like he had no control over the situation. He thanked his wife, Rena “Sable” Mero, his family, Dana White, the UFC and his sponsors for their constant support.
dana, sponsors

When asked when he’ll fight again, Dana White said “this summer.” During Lesnar’s downtime, UFC booked an interim title fight between undefeated heavyweight Shane Carwin and former champion Frank Mir for UFC’s March pay-per-view. The winner of that fight will face Lesnar in a title vs. title unification fight this summer in what is sure to be a blockbuster event.

Overall it was a great segment. They showed clips throughout the interview of Lesnar dismantling Randy Couture and Frank Mir in his two most recent fights. Lesnar was well spoken and the ESPN interviewer commented that his demeanor was very serious. Lesnar is a very lucky man and the UFC’s top box office attraction will hopefully be fighting for many years to come.

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