Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has officially retired from professional wrestling at 49 years old. Lesnar made the announcement Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show, confirming that his match against Oba Femi at WWE SummerSlam was his final appearance in the ring.
“I’m here today to do this interview to let the world and everybody know that I am retired and I wanted to say a big thank you to everybody.”
“Saturday was a very emotional day for me. It’s kind of weird because—When Oba Femi slammed me at WrestleMania, I was like, I can’t do this again. I was like, ‘I think I’m done.’”
From NCAA Champion to UFC Heavyweight Champion
Lesnar began his wrestling career at the University of Minnesota, where he won an NCAA Division I heavyweight championship in 2000.
He joined WWE shortly afterward and quickly became one of the promotion’s biggest stars. Lesnar won his first WWE world championship in 2002 after defeating Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at SummerSlam. After leaving WWE in 2004, Lesnar briefly pursued an NFL career before making the jump to MMA.
He made his professional MMA debut in 2007 and eventually joined the UFC. After losing his UFC debut to Frank Mir, Lesnar rebounded with wins over Heath Herring and Randy Couture. His victory over Couture earned him the UFC heavyweight championship in just his fourth professional fight.
Lesnar defended the belt twice before losing it to Cain Velasquez. He later returned to WWE and continued his wrestling career while making one final UFC appearance against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in 2016.
Lesnar Ready to Focus on Family
Lesnar returned to WWE in 2025 and continued wrestling until his SummerSlam match with Femi. He now plans to spend more time with his family and support his children’s athletic pursuits.
“I’ve got some hunting lined up and I’ve got two boys in hockey, I’m going to support that.”
“My daughter, she’s got her eye on the 2028 Olympics.”