Brock Lesnar’s UFC career was historic for many reasons, including the insane size of the gloves he wore in the octagon.
The NCAA wrestling champion made the jump from professional wrestling in the WWE to fight in mixed martial arts, debuting in 2007.
Brock Lesnar submitted Min-Soo Kim in just 69 seconds on his MMA debut, earning the attention of Dana White and making his UFC debut just a year later.
He was a monster with his size and speed, although the size of Lesnar’s hands is what wowed many when he stepped into the octagon.
Brock Lesnar wore 4XL gloves in the UFC, the same as Hongman Choi
In the octagon, Lesnar was forced to wear custom-made gloves because traditional MMA gloves only went up to 3XL.
This was too small for his massive hands, which seemed disproportionate to the still massive Lesnar, who stood six feet three inches tall and weighed around 280 lbs.
These custom 4XL gloves were uncommon in UFC. In fact, in MMA, it has been claimed that only one man has worn gloves up to that size – the seven feet two inches tall “Techno Goliath” Hongman Choi.
Despite having nearly a foot in height on Lesnar, Choi shares the same glove size as the former WWE Champion, showing how abnormally large the former UFC Heavyweight champion’s hands truly are.
When Lesnar returned to the UFC in 2015 for UFC 200, standing in for Conor McGregor at short notice, the former Heavyweight champion struggled to fit his custom-made XXXXL gloves.
Staff were forced to stretch the massive gloves out even further, as Lesnar struggled to fit his taped hands into them.
Luckily, he forced his way into them before beating Mark Hunt over three rounds, although the result was later overturned after Lesnar failed a drug test.
Brock Lesnar was supposed to fight Hongman Choi on his MMA debut
While we never got to see Lesnar and Choi go at it with their huge hands in the octagon, the fight was actually scheduled to take place for Lesnar’s debut in MMA.
His bout with Min-Soo Kim was a late addition to that card. Choi had competed in a kickboxing event in the months leading up to the fight and suffered a concussion from a kick to the head, keeping him out of the bout.
How anybody managed to reach his head to kick it was a mystery in itself, but it meant that the two men had their match cancelled and a new opponent found for the former wrestler.
Given his 4-5 record in MMA, it seems likely that Lesnar’s speed and power would have won the day if they had battled on his debut in the octagon.