Brock Lesnar will appear on SportsCenter tomorrow morning to address questions about his future. For months we’ve heard endless speculation about Lesnar’s health, so it’s about time we get some answers.
In November, Dana White sounded the alarm about Lesnar’s health, giving people the impression his life was in serious danger. Within a few weeks it looked like the threat was overblown, but it was still unclear whether Lesnar would fight again. Over the past few weeks, reports of severe weight loss and a negative prognosis were contradicted by public statements made by Marty Morgan, Greg Nelson, and Randy Couture. In total, it’s been a constant barrage of conflicting information, and hopefully Lesnar will be able to clear up the confusion.
In a way, it’s unfortunate this will be on SportsCenter, because a press conference with the MMA media would have answered more of the questions we’re looking for. Lesnar’s status will get a lot more press coverage this way, so this is a better forum from the UFC’s perspective, but It’s entirely possible the interviewer tomorrow won’t know a whole lot about MMA, and won’t ask the right questions.
Assuming the right questions are asked, what will Lesnar tell us? My guess is he will announce his return for the Summer of 2010 against either Shane Carwin or Frank Mir. The UFC 111 events page does not classify Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin as any kind of heavyweight title match, and I’ve been told that as of yesterday the page had the fight listed as an interim title fight. If true, this lends support to the idea that Lesnar is returning sooner rather than later.
One fellow member of the MMA media did make an interesting point to me earlier today: if Lesnar is indeed retiring, this would be the easiest way to do it. It will be a short interview with someone unfamiliar with the sport, and he won’t have to deal with any followup questions.
Another possibility is the announcement will be that he hasn’t made a decision yet, and is going to vacate his title while he waits to see if he can fight again. I find it hard to believe he’d go on ESPN just to say he hasn’t made a decision though, so I am expecting some kind of answer one way or another. Let’s just hope it’s good news.