Dana White has revealed that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock
Lesnar has diverticulitis again. This is the same sickness that kept
Lesnar out of action for nearly a year.
As a result, Shane Carwin will step in to fight Junior Dos Santos in the main event at UFC 131 in Vancouver, Canada.
Brock Lesnar is on the call, and he apologizes to Junior Dos Santos and
Spike TV for the unfortunate situation. He says that diverticulitis is a
disease that never goes away, but he hadn't had any symptoms of it
during the training camps for his fights against Shane Carwin and Cain
Velasquez.
Lesnar started feeling symptoms again
sometime during filming for The Ultimate Fighter. He adds that it is not
quite as serious as last time.
Brock notes that he is NOT
retiring from fighting. He says he just has to find the right solution
to fix this problem. "This isn't the end of Brock Lesnar, this is a
speed bump in the road," says Lesnar. "This is not the end of my career -
far from it."
Lesnar was having abdominal pain, and he wasn't able to recover well from training.
Brock has the decision to either get surgery or deal with the disease
through antibiotics and a strict diet; he has yet to make that decision.
He still has to follow-up with his doctors before he makes a decision.
He says that he hasn't been as good athletically as he used to be since
his first bout with the illness. In the Carwin fight, he says he was
about 85%.
Dana White says that Brock is being treated at the Mayo Clinic. Brock thanks Dana for how he has handled this situation.
Brock says that he has been "very dedicated" with his diet.
Brock doesn't have enough information at this point to make the aforementioned decision to possibly have surgery.
About three weeks ago he started feeling symptoms, and the antibiotics
meant to combat those symptoms didn't help him. He says that the
diverticulitis has kept him from training to his best ability, and with
three weeks left before the fight he didn't feel like he could be ready.
Brock hasn't come across any other professional athletes with
diverticulitis or a similar disease. He says he failed at managing the
disease, despite thinking he was doing "all the right things."
Brock: More than anything, I wanted to fight Junior Dos Santos, win that fight, and fight Cain Velasquez for the title.
Shane Carwin's previously scheduled opponent for UFC 131, Jon Olav Einemo, does not have a new opponent at this time.
Brock doesn't know how long surgery would keep him out of action. He does, however, note that it has a good success rate.
Lesnar reiterates that he does not think this will end his career.
Brock says there was no concern that fighting negatively affects his diverticulitis.
Dana White thanks everybody on the call. Brock thanks everyone for the support. That concludes the conference call.
To Recap:
-- Brock Lesnar is out of his UFC 131 bout with Junior Dos Santos due to diverticulitis.
-- Shane Carwin will now fight Junior Dos Santos in the main event on June 11.
-- Brock does not believe his bout with diverticulitis is career threatening.
-- Jon Olav Einemo, previously scheduled to fight Carwin at UFC 131, does not have a new opponent at this time.