MMA

Brock Lesnar

BY JOE FERRARO
sportsnet.ca

This was supposed to be the week that the MMA world would finally get a status on UFC heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's health; would he return to action or would he have to leave the sport for good?

UFC president Dana White's only comment was in fact "no comment," sending the MMA world into a tailspin. But according to one of Lesnar's trainers, the champ will definitely be back.

Speaking at the National High School duels in Rochester, Minn., University of Minnesota assistant head wrestling coach Marty Morgan touched on one of the best kept secrets in MMA.

"Everyone's asking about his health. He had a bout with a bacterial infection in his intestinal tract in November, and now we're just kind of working our way to get back to where we need to get back to fight."

Similar to the UFC president, Morgan made it clear that he wanted to respect the wishes of the champ.

"I don't give more answers than that. Brock don't give more answers, (and) his agents don't give more answers. There's really only a handful of people who know where we're at, whether it's moving forwards or backwards."

Morgan definitely understands that living in the information age means the media, and especially the fans, want the most up-to-date information served on a platter, as quickly as they can possibly get it.

"A lot of times I think that in this day and age of Facebook and Twitter it almost bugs me that people always need to know what's going on all the time. I understand people granted want to know how his health is but at this point right now we've kind of just kept quiet with what's going on."

But then he stated the one golden nugget that everyone has been waiting to hear.

"He will fight again. I know that it's just a matter of the public finding out when soon enough."

This is not only great news for Lesnar, but also for the UFC, the sport, its fans, and the heavyweight division, which has a plethora of fighters chomping at the bit to get a crack at UFC gold.

Upon Lesnar's return, the question of who he will fight next will be answered in the coming months.

His arch-nemesis Frank Mir is slated to take on Shane Carwin, the man he was supposed to fight next, in an interim title fight slated for the co-main event at UFC 111, scheduled for March 27, in Newark, N.J.

Contenders Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez will also jockey for contender status when they square off in the main event at UFC 110, Feb. 21, in Sydney, Australia.

On the outskirts are Junior Dos Santos, who is being rumoured to be taking on Gabriel Gonzaga next, as well as the likes of Cheick Kongo, TUF 10 winner Roy Nelson, and Mirko Cro Cop, who will be taking on Ben Rothwell (also at UFC 110).