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UFC 200: Why Brock Lesnar is greatest combat sports athlete of all time

Posted: Jul 10th 2016 By: Steven Muehlhausan

Brock Lesnar returns after a four-and-half year hiatus when he fights Mark Hunt in the co-main event of Saturday's UFC 200. Many were shocked when it was announced at June's UFC 199 that the current WWE star would participate.

Why would Lesnar return? He has enough money, but he loves to compete. He's an athlete unlike any other. He strives for competition. He is the only athlete to win an NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship, become the youngest WWE champion and after four fights the UFC heavyweight champion. You look at his credentials and can make a case that Lesnar is the greatest combat sports athlete.

"Absolutely, no doubt," WWE Hall of Famer announcer and former company executive Jim Ross told Sporting News. "People don't understand how unique the skillset is to be a sports entertainer. It's a real niche world and you got to be really skilled, have a good feel for the charisma side and the showbiz side. There deal there is he's got to look like he's killing somebody and not even though he's more physical than anybody on the WWE roster even in the showbiz presentation of the genre. There's nobody probably more physical than him. And when you are one of the pro wrestlers working with him in that showbiz presentation, you got to know you better lace your boots up because it's not going to be a ballet.

"He's not going to try and hurt you, but you are going to know he's there. It's really a throwback to the old school pro wrestling in that regard. Those old timers, they didn't want somebody sitting ringside rolling their eyes to what they were doing. Nobody rolls their eyes when Lesnar throws a punch or a kick or a suplex to somebody. He's going to pick you up and he's going to take you down and that's just the way it's going to be. A lot of guys just have to be prepared for it. He's not an ideal matchup for some wrestlers. Much like people are speculating and I agree with them quite frankly, stylistically, this is not a great fight for Brock with Mark Hunt."

Ross recruited Lesnar when he was in college to come to WWE. Lesner signed with WWE in 2000 in what was at the time the largest contract in promotion's history for a participant without experience.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon is stubborn and a hard man to please. He has Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. When McMahon saw Lesnar for the first time, he saw someone special and did something he had never done.

"We were in Minnepolis and I had Gerry (Brisco) call Brock and Shelton Benjamin, who was a graduate associate and workout partner during Brock's senior year," Ross said. "Shelton had also wrestled at Minnesota, a great athlete. So we had invited them to come to our TV taping. And I told Vince before the show and said, 'Hey, we got those two kids we recruited from Minnesota coming to the event tonight.' And he's pre-occupied. I didn't ask [McMahon] to meet [Lesnar]. They were not immersed on who Vince was and that he was the boss. But when Vince came out of his office and was walking to his place to get ready for the show, he locked eyes and saw Lesnar standing there and made a beeline to him.

"And that's the first time he had ever done that. Vince saw the same thing I saw. And Vince had never spoken to the guy, never seen him wrestle. He's in street clothes. And he walked over and I introduced him. I remember him asking Brock, what do you want to do when you get out of college? Brock's answer was very quick and very succinct, 'I want to be an entertainer.' Basically, Vince's eyes lit up and figuratively saying, Boy, do we got a deal for you. Vince loved his look. How could you not for what WWE does? His look was extraordinary. Again, he draws your eyes to him."

UFC 200 from Las Vegas begins at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the undercard scheduled for 8 and the main card beginning at 10.