Brock Lesnar On Diverticulitis Flare-Up: 'This Is Not The End Of My Career'

Source: MMAMania

Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is currently engaging in round two of his fight against the intestinal ailment diverticulitis.

The disease, which forced him to take a year away from the sport between 2009-2010 and to also consider retirement, has flared up again and forced him out of a planned bout with his opposing The Ultimate Fighter 13 coach Junior dos Santos. Lesnar recently spoke with media (props to MMAMania) about his latest diverticulitis-related setback.

"I'll tell you one thing. I'm not retiring," assured the 33-year-old. "This isn't the end of my fight career. This is something that I believe that there is a solution to every problem. I just have to find the right 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 and trust me, I've incurred a lot of speed bumps throughout my career and this is one of them. Instead of not facing the music, I'm here telling everybody because I've been here before and I want to make it all known. I want to state that this is not the end of my career. Far from it."

In addition to apologizing to fans, dos Santos and the UFC, Lesnar explained that the battle with diverticulitis has been ongoing for the last year and that there was no possible way with the worsening state of the condition that he could have been fully prepared to face dos Santos in time for their June 11-slated UFC 131 main event bout.

The former professional wrestler admitted to being completely frustrated by the ailment's hindrance of his fighting career, but said that, at the end of the day, he must first consider his long term well-being and his family.

"I believe that I haven't been 'that guy.' Even in my comeback fight against Shane Carwin, I felt ok but I'd say that maybe I was 85 or 90%. The Velasquez fight was just pushing myself to another limit. I told my wife and everybody else around about a week ago that 'I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.' We've got to find the solution to this," he said. "The fighter inside of me, the person that I am, doesn't want to back down from a fight. My health and my family are more important than stepping in the Octagon. I don't care how much money, they could throw all the money in the world. The one thing I have found out through all this is that my family, if you don't have your health and your family, you don't have diddly squat."