Brock Lesnar

Born

1977-07-12

Birthplace

Webster, South Dakota, USA

Biography

Brock Edward Lesnar is an American professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and professional football player. He is currently signed to WWE and is the reigning WWE Champion in his seventh reign. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is the only person to hold the primary heavyweight championships in WWE, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Lesnar competed in amateur wrestling for the University of Minnesota, winning the NCAA Division I national championship in 2000. He soon signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed WWE in 2002), rising to industry prominence in 2002 by winning the WWE Championship at age 25, setting the record for the youngest performer to win the championship. In 2004, Lesnar departed WWE to join the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL), but was cut from the team during pre-season. He won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2005 while with NJPW, and he re-signed with WWE in 2012; his 504-day reign as Universal Champion is the seventh-longest world championship reign in the promotion's history. He also won the Royal Rumble match twice, the Money in the Bank ladder match, the King of the Ring tournament, and has headlined several pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania four times (XIX, 31, 34, and 36); in addition, he also ended The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania Streak in 2014. Lesnar began an MMA career in 2007, and signed with the UFC in 2008. He quickly won the UFC Heavyweight Championship, but was sidelined with diverticulitis in 2009. On his return in 2010, Lesnar defeated Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin to unify the heavyweight championships, becoming the only undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. After a set of losses and further struggles with diverticulitis, Lesnar retired from MMA in 2011. He returned in 2016 and defeated Mark Hunt; his victory was overturned to a no-contest after Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene, a banned substance on UFC's anti-doping policy. Lesnar then retired from MMA for a second time in 2017. A box office sensation, Lesnar competed in some of the bestselling pay-per-view events in promotion history, including headlining UFC 91, UFC 100, UFC 116, and UFC 121.