UFC Announces Brock Lesnar Suffering From Diverticulitis Again, Junior dos Santos to Face Shane Carwin at UFC 131 [Updated]

In an unusual move the UFC announced a last minute media conference call. With about 30 minutes notice the speculation began to fly among media as to what could produce such an unusual move on the UFC’s part. There were rumors flying on Twitter of everything from a major injury to a deal with NBC.

Unfortunately, the major injury angle proved the truth. Brock Lesnar is once again suffering from diverticulitis and has been forced out of his bout with Junior dos Santos. The fight has been built up through this season of The Ultimate Fighter and would have marked the former heavyweight champion’s return to the cage.

Dana White said that Lesnar has some “serious choices” to make going forward. And there are some speculating we may never see Lesnar fight again.

The UFC announced that dos Santos would now face Shane Carwin in the main event of UFC 131.

This continues the poor summer that the UFC faces in terms of big drawing main events.

Bloody Elbow will have much more news on this in the coming days.

[Update – Mike Fagan]

Just finished the call. Here’s some additional details:

-Brock was adamant that he was not retiring. He’s waiting on test results from the Mayo Clinic, and he’s hopeful that this will not force him out of the fight game.

-Symptoms sprang up three months ago, and he dealt with them during taping of the Ultimate Fighter.

-Lesnar is debating having surgery or “dealing with this for the rest of my life.” He mentioned that people who do not have to push themselves to the limit can handle the disease without surgery.

-Brock said that he felt at 85-90% during the fight with Shane Carwin, and that he “pushed himself to another limit” against Cain Velasquez.

-Brock said he has no timetable on when he’ll make a decision or how long he could be out for.

-The UFC has not found a replacement for Jon Olav Einemo as of yet.