LAGOS AUGUST 5TH (NEWSRNAGERS)-At age 49, Brock Lesnar has finally put a bow on one of the most decorated combat sports careers of all-time.
The former WWE and UFC champion announced his retirement from combat sports Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” following his much-celebrated WWE program with Oba Femi, which culminated in a Hell in the Cell loss at this past Saturday’s SummerSlam Night 1 main event in Lesnar’s home state of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Said Lesnar:
“I’m here today to do this interview, to let the world and everybody know that I am retired. And I wanted to say a big thank you to everybody. Saturday was a very emotional day for me. Kind of weird because I did — when Oba Femi slammed me at WrestleMania, I was like, ‘I can’t do this again.’ So I was like, ‘I think I’m done.’ But the business [wanted me back] and I still had some fuel in the tank. But Saturday, for Brock Lesnar, that’s it. That’s it for me in the squared circle and for everything else too.
So I just want to give a shoutout to everybody in this universe who has followed since I was a little kid all the way until Saturday. I was just a farm kid from South Dakota with a big dream and a big heart and a big-ass chip on my shoulder, and I’m just grateful. Grateful to be 49 years old and to have been able to do what I did in this lifetime. I thank God and everybody that supported me.
I want to thank all my coaches, and I want to especially say to the little kids — I was just a farm kid with a bunch of lint in my pocket, and I had big dreams, and I just worked. And I think a lot of people nowadays with social platforms platforms, athletes [post themselves] doing things, but they leave out the hard work. And if kids just stay focused on work and putting the time in, good things will happen.”
Lesnar first rose to prominence as a collegiate wrestling phenom for the University of Minnesota. After winning an NCAA Division I national championship in 2000, Lesnar signed with the WWE and immediately set a new benchmark for the company, becoming the youngest-ever WWE World Champion at age 25. Lesnar ultimately had three different stints with the WWE — 2000-04, 2012-20 and 2021-26 — during which he won some variation of promotion’s top titles 10 different times, and infamously ended The Undertaker’s legendary 21-year undefeated streak at WrestleManias in 2014.
Following a brief run on the Minnesota Vikings as a defensive tackle, Lesnar defied expectations yet again by vaulting over to mixed martial arts and capturing the UFC heavyweight title in just his fourth professional fight in 2008. Lesnar ultimately defended that title twice — still tied for the second-most ever — and defeated the likes of Frank Mir, Randy Couture and Shane Carwin before dropping the belt in 2010 to Cain Velasquez.
Brock Lesnar was an instant success in MMA.
Lesnar’s last MMA appearance came in a 2016 fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200. Lesnar initially won the bout via unanimous decision after five years away from the sport, however the result was subsequently changed to a no-contest after Lesnar tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene in drug tests related to the bout.
Lesnar’s final WWE run came over the past year. He returned at SummerSlam 2025 following a two-year absence in connection to WWE’s Janel Grant lawsuit, then entered into a program with Femi that stretched throughout much of 2026.
When asked Tuesday how he plans to spend his newfound free time in retirement, the notoriously reclusive Lesnar gave an unsurprisingly simple answer.
“I got some hunting lined up. And I’ve got two boys in hockey, I’m going to support that, their dreams as long as that’s feasible. And my daughter, she’s got her eye on 2028 Olympics [in shot put]. Just going to spend some more time with the kids and in the woods, and just reap what I’ve sown, man. Just enjoy life.
“I spent the last two days in bed — I got run over by a Nigerian nightmare dump truck Saturday night, and I just, yeah, it’s time. I’m 49 and I still want to be able to get around and move, but I’m grateful. Very grateful.”
Uncrowned
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