Brock Lesnar received a late final offer from the UFC before re-signing with the WWE this week. In comments to the Associated Press, Lesnar revealed that the UFC had offered ten times what he had made in his previous MMA tenure. This would have made the UFC deal far more valuable than the WWE deal. Brock would have made as much money for a UFC fight as he would have made in an entire year of WWE work. If he was to compete two times a year in the UFC, he would have been significantly better off. But Lesnar's decision was already made, he didn't want to endure the gruelling process of training for a fight. The WWE deal was still good money and it offered him a far easier and much less physically demanding work load. Regardless, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta was still hoping Brock would change his mind as late as Tuesday of this week. That was the day after Brock had re-signed with WWE. When Brock called Lorenzo to tell him his decision, the UFC CEO still had hopes of doing a deal. Lorenzo said to me, 'Can we sharpen our pencil? Can we double it? Lesnar told the Associated Press. "I said, 'It's not about that. I'm calling you to tell you where my heart is, and it's not about the money.' "And then in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, 'Well, yeah, it is about the money, but I don't have to beat myself up for it.' To prepare for another MMA fight, we're talking 16, 18 weeks of pure hell, and then the cage door shuts and it's on." Lesnar instead opted for the WWE deal. It was announced on SportsCenter on Tuesday night and the UFC accepted that they'd lost out on their target. UFC President Dana White told Fox Sport Im happy for him. He was always a stand up guy. From what I understand Vince made him a deal that he couldnt refuse, which is awesome. Im happy for both of them. And this is a sport that youve got to be all in. Brock had a really good stint here. He did some amazing things and it was fun to have him. The UFC will be disappointed, as Lesnar was their biggest pay per view draw of all time. However, there are plenty of positive things for White to focus on. His company is having a good start to 2015 and has a host of other stars to build the MMA brand around like Ronda Rousey. In truth, Lesnar would have only worked for a limited time in any UFC return. He would have popped a few big initial shows, but fans would have ultimately saw that he's past it. A big rematch with Frank Mir was speculated upon for UFC's first foray into the New York market with a Madison Square Garden show. But beyond that, there really wasn't many compelling or realistic fights on the table for Lesnar. What's interesting is where UFC and WWE stand legally in all of these negotiations. Was it acceptable that the UFC were making Brock offers when he was under a WWE contract? Read more about Brock Lesnar's WWE deal with these ten insights.
