Brock Lesnar pulled out of UFC 131 earlier Thursday afternoon due to his Diverticulitis flaring up again, and while not many details were known at the time, Ariel Helwani has transcribed the quotes from the conference call.
The former University of Minnesota wrestler and current resident of Alexandria, Minn., seemed to be very candid on the conference call announcing that he will be unable to fight Brazilian Junior Dos Santos.
"I dodged a bullet about two years ago with diverticulitis, at that time not knowing what the problem was," Lesnar said. "Diverticulitis is an illness that never goes away. It's something that I've dealt with since my first occurrence and have been battling with it. It's just something that's in your colon for the rest of your life, and I've been able to maintain it to the point that it's tolerable. I was able to go through two training camps -- Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez -- and made it through those camps without having a bout or any symptoms."
Apparently Lesnar had been dealing with the symptoms for the last three months and was in Bismarck, N.D., a few weeks ago for what had been rumored to be a doctor's appointment as he was treated in a Bismarck hospital during his first bout with the intestinal disease as well. There's no way of knowing if the trip is related, but there aren't all that many reasons to visit Bismarck in April. Lesnar's most recent visit to the Mayo Clinic on Wednesday evening is when he finally decided that he would need to pull out of the fight.
"It didn't allow me to train to my full capabilities. I was forced to make a decision to go back down to the doctor this week to figure out how far this thing is along," Lesnar said. "What it does is it drains my entire body down. Basically, you've got an infection in your stomach and all my resources went to fight this problem instead of rebuilding what I tore down in the gym."
Lesnar still has to decide if he's going to have surgery, but has already decided that he's is not going to end his mixed martial arts career.
"I will tell you one thing, I'm not retiring. This isn't the end of my fight career," Lesnar said. "This is something that I believe, and I have strong faith, that there's a solution to every problem. I just have to find a solution to fix this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do. This isn't the end of Brock Lesnar. This is a speed bump in the road."
Hopefully his recovery is quick and he's able to continue training soon to get back to the championship level he's been at so many times in the past.