Brock Lesnar reportedly was once close to securing an MMA fight with former Undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis.
Former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis once revealed that he came close to facing Brock Lesnar in a crossover fight back in 2002. Speaking on TSN’s Off The Record, as reported by the Daily Mirror, Lewis said WWE approached him with an offer of £5 million to take part in an MMA rules bout against Lesnar. The proposed match was part of Vince McMahon’s attempt to elevate Lesnar as the company’s next major star, with McMahon believing that a victory over the reigning boxing champion would immediately solidify Lesnar’s aura.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2023, McMahon even contacted the Nevada Athletic Commission to explore sanctioning the fight. Lewis initially denied the story at the time but later confirmed in 2015 that the offer had been made.
Lewis ultimately turned the deal down after learning more about Lesnar’s amateur wrestling credentials and recognising that MMA rules would heavily favour a wrestler against a boxer. Meltzer reported that the fight collapsed once Lewis realised the stylistic disadvantage he would face in the cage rather than a boxing ring.
When Was Brock Lesnar In The UFC?
Brock Lesnar joined UFC in 2008 after having one MMA match in K-1’s MMA league, Hero’s, which he won. Lesnar’s first UFC fight came at UFC 81, where he lost to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir via submission in the first round.
Despite his loss, Lesnar was offered another fight contract and defeated Heath Herring by unanimous decision. Lesnar then went on to fight a further four times in UFC from 2008-2011, winning the UFC Heavyweight Title along the way from Randy Couture and defending it two times, avenging his debut loss to Mir in one of his defences, before losing the title to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.
Lesnar returned to UFC in 2016 to defeat Mark Hunt, but the bout was later ruled a no-contest due to Lesnar testing positive for clomiphene after the bout.
