Years after UFC 121, former UFC and WWE champion Brock Lesnar is opening up about one of the darkest stretches of his career — the heavyweight title fight against Cain Velasquez in Anaheim in October 2010.
More than a decade after Brock Lesnar lost the UFC heavyweight title to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121, the former champion says the bigger fight was happening outside the cage. Speaking to Fightful, Lesnar revisited the October 2010 bout in Anaheim and said diverticulitis had badly compromised him before he ever stepped into the Octagon.
That fight remains one of the most important turning points in modern heavyweight history. Velasquez’s win didn’t just end Lesnar’s title reign — it signaled a shift away from star-driven spectacle and toward a deeper, more complete era at heavyweight, with Velasquez becoming the kind of pressure fighter the division had rarely seen at the top.
Lesnar did not try to soften what happened in the cage. “Cain beat my ass in Anaheim,” he said. But he also made clear that his health crisis was draining him well before the first-round TKO loss. “I think because of diverticulitis I wasn’t able to perform anywhere near my full ability. I almost died from that disease. It changed my life a little bit and my outlook on sports,” Lesnar said.
Diverticulitis, a serious intestinal condition, had already taken a major toll on his body by that point. Lesnar said the experience changed how he viewed fighting and the physical cost that comes with it. “In this business, you can get hurt easily. It was one of those situations where early in my career I had to go all out, and then when I still had fights left on my contract, I thought, ‘You know what? I’m not going to leave that money on the table, so I’m going to go fight.’”
For American fans, UFC 121 is still remembered as a collision between one of the promotion’s biggest pay-per-view attractions and a relentless challenger who exposed the gap between drawing power and championship form. Velasquez stopped Lesnar in the first round, and the result helped reshape the division’s pecking order for years to come.
Even now, Lesnar’s comments add a new layer to a fight that already carried massive consequences — and they remind fans how much of MMA history can turn on what the public never sees until long after the cage door closes.
