Even with his short stint with the company, Brock Lesnar is still considered one of the biggest stars to ever compete under the UFC banner, but that almost didn’t happen due to doubts from Dana White.
At the time, in his mid-20s and considered one of the young guys in the promotion, the South Dakota native was one of the standout names in the WWE during the early 2000s. Lesnar sat alongside global stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldberg, The Rock, and many others, as a true ticket seller for professional wrestling. However, burnout, travel schedule, and other factors were key to his departure from the entertainment business.
His absence left a Brock Lesnar-shaped hole for fans, but that was quickly filled when he announced his venture into mixed martial arts. Many believed that if he could capitalize on his NCAA wrestling background inside the cage, Lesnar would undoubtedly become a star in the sport, but Dana White almost passed up on the opportunity.
According to Lesnar, the UFC CEO failed to return his calls, forcing the ambitious grappler to pursue other methods to get in touch with White.
“Dana White wanted nothing to do with me,” Lesnar revealed. “No, no. He wouldn’t return my phone calls. Yeah, so, what happened was, I fought at the LA Colosseum for K-1 Dynamite, and then I wanted to get into the big leagues. And there was only one big league at the time, and it was the UFC. So, my team reached out and wanted to do something with the UFC.”
“This is the stuff you have to do. I bought four nosebleed tickets to the MGM. Randy Couture was headlining against Gabriel Gonzaga for the heavyweight championship. I sat there in the stands through the entire event, and as soon as Randy won that fight, I scaled the security and ran to the octagon and grabbed Dana. I introduced myself. I said, ‘I’m Brock Lesnar.’ And we went to the back, and he says, ‘Well, listen, I’ll give you a shot.'”
“So he gave me a one-fight deal. I said take a gamble on me, and so he gave me a one-shot deal, and I lost that fight against Frank Mir. I went back to the locker room, and I was like I screwed it up. And Dana comes in, and he’s like, because they know the pay-per-view buys instantly, right? So, the numbers must have been really, really good. At that point, Dana is like, ‘Nope, you’re not done.’ And then the next day, we negotiated a real contract.”
Having already become a household name in sports entertainment, leading up to his spot in the UFC, refusing to sign Brock Lesnar would likely have seen unparalleled backlash befall Dana White.
Despite having to go to great lengths to get himself into the UFC and later becoming a success for the organization, Lesnar agrees with White’s hesitation to sign him.
“Because I had no credibility, and I don’t blame him. I was an amateur wrestler and a fake entertainer, you know. And so, he didn’t care, you know. I fought a tomato can my first fight. I beat him in 90 seconds, and it’s whatever. I didn’t prove myself yet.”
“[Dana White] threw me to the wolves. He said, ‘I’m not giving you any easy fights.’ My first fight is against Frank. He’s a, I don’t know how many times, defending champion at the time. A lethal dude. He almost broke my leg in half, right. So, he’s the real deal. So, it was just one of those things where I had to prove myself to him.”
Brock Lesnar talks getting a deal with the UFC and how Dana White wanted nothing to do with him at first.
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