Brock Lesnar showed UFC 200 who's boss on Saturday when he took on Mark Hunt in the heavyweight division. Despite the fact that he's been retired for the last five years due to diverticulitis, he wrapped it up in less than 15 minutes.
The Conqueror himself was thrust even further into the spotlight after the main event of light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and interim titleholder Jon Jones was cancelled. This followed one of Jones' random drug tests being flagged by UFC's drug testing partners, USADA.
But who is Brock Lesnar? Where did he come from? What made him the person he is today?
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Well, it turns out he's been through a lot of shit.
At one point, Lesnar was drinking a bottle of vodka a day. In fact, he claims to not be able to remember two whole years of his career.
Credit: ESPN
He was born on July 12, 1977. He was raised on a dairy farm in Webster, South Dakota that was owned by his parents. It sounds like the ideal childhood. He had two older brothers, a younger sister and everything seemed great.
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High school came around (I know, it's very difficult to picture Lesnar in a school uniform, never mind one that fits) and he joined the American football team. Obviously, he also joined amateur wrestling, too.
However, the funny thing is that he never watched wrestling. Ever. While most of us can safely say that WWE (or WWF at the time) was a staple of our childhoods, it wasn't for Lesnar. Which kind of makes his future career all the more interesting.
Anyway, in his senior year he was a two-time state champion. He went on to college, where he also won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) heavyweight wrestling championship.
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The passion for wrestling had been ignited. He won a wrestling scholarship at the University of Minnesota. As luck would have it, his roommate turned out to be future WWE colleague - Shelton Benjamin. Funny how things work out, isn't it?
Fast forward to the year 2000 and Lesnar had made some other incredibly clever life decisions that led him to signing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Two years later, he debuted on Raw and a star was born.
Sadly, with massive highs there comes the occasional low. During this time, he developed addictions to alcohol and painkillers. There are reports of him drinking a whole bottle of vodka per day as well as taking hundreds of Vicodin pills every month. However, Lesnar wouldn't be able to tell you whether or not this is 100% accurate.
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Credit: PA Images
Why did he consume so many drugs and so much alcohol? According to him, it all stems back to the wear and tear that his body was subjected to during WWE.
Things went from bad to worse when he was arrested in Kentucky for possession of anabolic steroids. Luckily, it was discovered that the substances on his person were in fact a legal growth hormone.
It seems that the early 2000s were a particularly bad time for him. However, after signing up with UFC in 2008 things began to go a little better. He became UFC heavyweight champion and, finally, he was doing what he loved.
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He was great at wrestling, but he is a champion when it comes to UFC.
Happy birthday, Brock.
Words by Mel Ramsay
Featured image credit: PA Images
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