Just a few days ago, Dana White told us Brock Lesnar was very sick. He couldn’t comment on what it was specifically, but he let us know it was bad. Real bad. Maybe life threatening. Definitely career endangering. But he assured us it wasn’t AIDS or cancer. Three days later, Brock Lesnar is out of the hospital and resting at home after minor surgery for an intestinal disorder. Turns out that as soon as he went to a hospital they were able to handle his issues.
Dana White is not a doctor. I’ve been saying that over and over to people the last few days. He has no idea what Brock’s future is medically. Based on what we know now, I wouldn’t be shocked if Brock is back in the octagon fighting by summer. A lot has changed in a few days.
There’s news that Dana is considering an interim heavyweight title match. My guess is it would be on the Australia card and that it would feature Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez. I see no reason whatsoever to make this fight. Just 3 days ago everyone thought Brock was on his deathbed, now he’s at home on a low fiber diet recovering. Give it two weeks, and see what his medical status is then. Maybe he really won’t fight again. But maybe he’ll be ready to fight by the Memorial Day show in May. If that’s the case, creating an interim champion in February only to unify in May is a ludicrous decision that only cheapens the title.
Here’s an alternative suggestion. Wait 3 weeks, and if it looks like Brock will be able to fight again, simply schedule his original fight with Carwin for late spring or early summer, and put Cain Velasquez and Nogueira on The Ultimate Fighter as coaches. By the time they finish and fight it will probably be right around the time Brock fights Carwin, and we’ll have another good contender. If they don’t want Nog on there again, maybe Cain and Mir if Mir wins at 107. This solution avoids a pointless interim title and takes care of the TUF problem without putting a division on hold.