The UFC heavyweight champion and former WWE star Brock Lesnar is in serious trouble. Lesnar has been hampered for months with an illness described as mono. UFC president Dana White has informed TMZ.com that Lesnar will not only need surgery, but may never fight again. The latest news is a death blow for UFC and may be the final chapter in one of the most polarizing careers in MMA history.

Lesnar’s condition is still a bit of a mystery. I have heard all kinds of rumors about the real conditions surrounding Lesnar’s illness, but none are confirmed. The amount of mystery and ambiguity surrounding this only fuels my speculation. It all began a few weeks back when it was announced that Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin was pushed back to UFC 108. Officials cited flu-like symptoms which have prevented Brock from training. Carwin was taken by surprise, as he too claimed to be sick but never had intentions of pulling out of the fight. However, things took an interesting twist a few weeks back when a video surfaced on You Tube.

A couple of weeks following the news of Lesnar’s illness, a video surfaced of Brock Lesnar at a Minnesota Vikings game. Lesnar had the honor of blowing the Vikings’ horn. The controversy erupted when most noted that Lesnar looked perfectly fine at the game. Lesnar’s defenders claimed that Brock was still very sick, but gutted it out for the event. I saw the video and posted it here. I don’t think there is anything wrong with him doing this between fights, but I do have to question the seriousness of the illness after watching the video. If Lesnar was really as sick as what was being conveyed, any other professional athlete would have canceled the appearance. Why risk making yourself more sick by rolling out of bed, dealing with the media, and blowing an over-sized horn?

The plot thickened last week when several writers reported that Lesnar was still sick and that the UFC 108 fight wasn’t going to happen. The UFC and Dana White confirmed the news after several reporters leaked the information. Dana White met with the media over the weekend at UFC 105 and talked frankly about Lesnar’s illness. White’s comments stunned the MMA world when he revealed for the first time that Lesnar’s career is in serious jeopardy.

“[Lesnar] is in bad shape, and the reality is they don’t really know all that’s wrong with him,” White said. “He owns a bunch of property in Canada. He went up to Canada just to get away from his house, to go up there and just kind of chill out up there. He [expletive] dropped. He went down, and he had to go to the hospital. They ran every test on the planet on him, and they ended up finding out something else was wrong with him.”

“He is not good,” White said. “He is very, very sick, and he’s going to be out for a while.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it publicly, but he’s in bad shape. He’s not well. He’s not going to be getting well anytime soon.” – MMAJunkie.com.

TheStar.com out of Toronto reports that Lesnar may be admitted into the Mayo Clinic for surgery. If so, this is very serious and goes well beyond any kind of fighting career. Quite frankly, I have to believe that there is something more wrong with Lesnar than mono. It truly is amazing that someone in such tremendous physical condition as Brock Lesnar can just deteriorate in a matter of weeks.

My hunch is that while we may see Brock Lesnar back in the UFC, it won’t be until next summer. If he has something this seriously wrong with him, it is going to take him time to recuperate from surgery and get himself back into training shape. At the same time, Dana White is going to be very hesitant to promote a fight with Lesnar until he is 100% sure that Brock is cured and ready. Unfortunately that day could possibly never come.

Brock Lesnar has fought four times in the UFC in yet his MMA career seems much bigger. Never has someone immediately grabbed so much attention and such little time in MMA and turned themselves literally into a UFC superstar overnight. Lesnar’s UFC career did not come without controversy. Quick title shots and controversial antics outside of the ring turned Lesnar into a very polarizing figure in MMA. Ironically in the end, the final memory of Brock Lesnar may be getting into his opponents face post-fight, criticizing a sponsor, and giving fans the middle finger.

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Welcome to my weekly article for the Camel-Clutch Blog. This is The Full Mount; your one-stop-shop for big mixed-martial arts news, rumors, upcoming cards, results and predictions. MMA is a passion of mine and is something that I follow 24/7. Enjoy third edition “The Full Mount.”
Anyone stay awake during UFZzZzZz 105?

UFC 105 will make just as many headlines as the second consecutive card with a questionable decision in its main event as it will for being one of the worst cards that the UFC has ever put on. UFC is very lucky it was free for the simple reason that, had I paid for it, I would have felt relegated to watch it. Since it was free, I didn’t feel bad making multiple switches to Notre Dame get smacked around again or the Manny Pacquaio/Miguel Cotto undercard.

Not only did this card lack names, but it lacked substance. Every fight on the card went into the second round or further. I don’t have an issue with that. I enjoy a competitive match. I don’t, however, enjoy two grown men hugging against the cage for 15 minutes. In fact, this card was so bad that I don’t even feel like wasting the energy typing about how boring it was when I could be talking about other big MMA news from this week. Keep an eye out later in the week for my article here on the Camel Clutch Blog on why “The Natural” deserves all of the accolades that he has received during his bland MMA career. So, next topic…

Lesnar Shelved Indefinitely

First it was swine flu. Than it was mononucleosis. Now, whatever it is that is bugging Brock Lesnar is either unknown or just simply hasn’t come to the surface yet. Dana White made it known during the UFC 105 press conference that Lesnar has something serious and it will prevent him from fighting in the foreseeable future. White did not elaborate other than to say that Lesnar was currently hospitalized in North Dakota.

Here’s what we do know. After finding out that the newly rescheduled UFC 108 bout with Shane Carwin was cancelled due to Lesnar’s on-going illness, Lesnar took a trip to his home in Canada to rehab. While there, Brock collapsed. “He [expletive] dropped,” White explained about the situation. “He went down, and he had to go to the hospital. They ran every test on the planet on him, and they ended up finding out something else was wrong with him.”

“He doesn’t want to talk about it publically, but he’s in bad shape. He’s not well and he’s not going to be getting well anytime soon,” White stated of Lesnar at the press conference. “He has other problems too. He is not good. He is very, very sick and he’s going to be out for a while. I am worried about it. You know, I can’t really talk about it right now, but he’s in rough shape. He’s in really bad shape … and we’re going to have to do some stuff to take care of this guy. He is not well and he’s not getting any better.”

You can tell just by that quote that White is genuinely worried about Brock’s health. Dana knows what is wrong with Brock and clearly knows that it’s serious. Brock’s camp released a statement this morning downplaying the incident by saying that Brock’s issues are simply complications of his current illness and that they are not life or career threatening. Whatever the case, we wish Brock the best and hope for a speedy recovery.

UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship Bout in the Cards

Dana White has stated that the UFC is now looking at potential interim heavyweight title candidates now that Lesnar is out indefinitely. There seem to be four prime candidates to consider: Shane Carwin, Antonio Nogueira, Cain Velasquez, and Frank Mir. Let’s break down these four.

Shane Carwin: You would think that since Carwin is the number one contender for the belt that his inclusion would be a given. Well, unless the UFC wants to wait 4-6 months before having this interim title match, Carwin cannot be included. One he found out originally that the January 2, 2010 event was cancelled, he opted to have a minor knee surgery. Carwin is on the shelf until March at the earliest.

Antonio Nogueira: Big Nog and Cain were just named as the new main event for UFC 108 last week. On Friday, however, news came out that this matchup would now be cancelled as well due to Nog having a major staph infection. It is said to be severe and will require a stay in the hospital to treat. This means that Nog is also out until March or April at the earliest.

Cain Velasquez: After his absolute dismantling of “Big” Ben Rothwell in which he barely broke a sweat, Cain accepted the UFC 108 main event against Big Nog with the winner of that match facing the winner of Lesnar/Carwin. With both matches now cancelled, Cain is awaiting word on whether he will have a new opponent or have his match cancelled altogether. Whatever the case, UFC 108 has now been through 4 main events and all have been cancelled. It may be a smart career move to just not have anything to do with the UFC 108 main event at all. However, my guess is that he will be fighting at UFC 108 and it will be against…..

Frank Mir: Mir is currently scheduled for a UFC 107 match against Cheick Kongo. The logical move would be to take Mir out of this fight and move him into a match with Cain as the main event of UFC 108 for the interim heavyweight title. Both Mir and Cain are currently training and could be making that idea a reality. I would put my money on that fight happening at UFC 108.

There doesn’t seem to be any other heavyweights to consider. Junior Dos Santos isn’t ready yet and guys like Kongo and Gonzaga just don’t deserve the shot. The injury bug has decimated the UFC in every division from top to bottom.

Ochocinco at UFC Cien y Ocho?

No. Not a chance. And, as long as Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco is in the NFL, I can’t imagine any NFL team allowing him in the octagon. Even for charity. Earlier this week, Ochocinco contacted Dana White via Twitter to beg for a match to help a charity. His entire twitter message read:

“Dana this Ocho Cinco, I want to fight your #1 and #2 best fighters ASAP, exhibition to raise money for a charity of choice!!!!!! … matter of fact I want Anderson Spider Silva-please don’t ignore me or you’ll have to fight me yourself!!! Sincerely Esteban … Mr. White this a serious matter, we can help alot organizations with this fight, I have a good chance at winning against Silva.”

White responded, “If you are really serious @OGOchoCinco, contact me. We’ll put a fight together for charity…. I need a Jan 2nd fight. Ocho Cinco vs Anderson Spider Silva. PS – I’m too old to fight anyone.”

Ochocinco responded back with: “Awesome! I’m fighting Anderson Silva-I can’t wait to throw my child please combo with a kiss da baby leg kick,Silva can shut the front door! … oh I’m dead serious, this will be one that goes down in history, Ocho defeats Silva in surprising upset, it’s on!!!”

There are many reasons why Chad Ochocinco is my favorite professional athlete. The guy is talented and entertaining. I can only hope that he does some work in broadcasting when he’s done. If you don’t follow Chad on Twitter, you must do it now. The guy is extremely awesome to his fans. He communicates with them very often. He is one of the few guys on Twitter that is like that with his followers.

UFC 106 Predictions

I finished at 2-3 at last week’s UFC 105 event. We’ll chalk it up as just reading the card had me so bored that I began to daze out into space. I’ll rebound this week with UFC 106. The picks….

Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz
Prediction: Forrest Griffin via Decision

Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
Prediction: Anthony Johnson via KO

Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Prediction: Phil Baroni via TKO

Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Prediction: Luiz Cane via Decision

Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett
Prediction: Karo Parisyan via Decision

I hope you enjoyed the third edition of ‘The Full Mount”. If you have any questions that you would like answered in the next edition, please e-mail me at Brettley916@aol.com. Thanks.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

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