UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar Facing Serious Health Crisis

Shortly after Saturday's UFC 105 card in Manchester, England, concluded, UFC President Dana White revealed that his promotion's heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar, is suffering from serious health problems and will not be able to fight any time soon.

"He's in rough shape, he's in really bad shape," White said, according to the Canadian Press. "He is not well and he is not getting any better. ... He's very, very sick and he's going to be out for a while. He's got a lot of problems. ... He's got mono and he's got something else wrong with him.
I know what's wrong with him, he just doesn't want me talking about it."

White didn't say exactly what is wrong with Lesnar, although he did specify that it is not cancer or AIDS. The UFC had previously said Lesnar was suffering from mononucleosis, but his illness is apparently more serious than that.

Lesnar had been scheduled to defend his title against Shane Carwin on Nov. 21. When he first started to feel sick, the UFC tentatively re-scheduled the Carwin bout for Jan. 2. But it will likely be long after Jan. 2 before Lesnar, who won the undisputed heavyweight title by defeating Frank Mir at UFC 100, is ready to fight again.

White made room for the possibility of putting together a fight for an interim heavyweight title while Lesnar is sidelined, although it's not clear who would participate in that fight. Carwin is reportedly sidelined with a knee injury, while another top UFC heavyweight, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, is reportedly battling a staph infection.

The Lesnar illness is the worst piece of news yet in an autumn that has been full of bad news for the UFC. Champions Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre have all battled injuries, and one of the promotion's most marketable stars, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, says he is quitting the UFC to pursue an acting career. Even on a day when it had a successful show in England, the UFC is going through a rough patch.

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