Brock Lesnar was feared for his menacing demeanour in the UFC, yet he also had a surprisingly playful side.
This was evident after Lesnar’s victory over Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in July 2010, where ‘The Beast’ gifted commentator Joe Rogan a priceless piece of memorabilia.
Lesnar survived a barrage of heavy blows in the first round of his main event bout against Carwin, and at one point was on his back seriously hurt while his opponent relentlessly beat him down.
However, after making it to his feet and emerging into round two, Lesnar found success with his next takedown and an exhausted Carwin succumbed to an arm triangle.
Lesnar suffered numerous painful injuries to his face following the first five minutes, but still had it in him to joke with Rogan during his post-octagon interview.
“Brock. Congratulations. Tremendous victory,” Rogan stated to a sweaty, red-faced Lesnar after the bout.
“Tell us about the first round; it looked like you were in trouble. What were you thinking?” he added.
There was no response from the champion, however, as Lesnar did exactly the opposite of that and decided to dispose of his gum shield in Rogan’s front pocket.
The now 47-year-old had removed it from his mouth to speak as he drooled on the canvas, before gifting Rogan with his teeth protector for the bout.
“I’ll sell that on eBay.” Rogan responded after realising what Lesnar had done.
Lesnar then went on to thank his family, coaches and training partners in his short but sweet interview.
“Ladies and gentlemen. I stand before you a humble champion, and I’m still the toughest SOB around baby,” he added.
After losing the heavyweight strap to Cain Velasquez in his next fight and suffering a repeat against Alistair Overeem, Lesnar returned to the UFC six years later.
Although ‘The Beast’ defeated Mark Hunt via unanimous decision during UFC 200’s co-headline act, the bout was ruled a no-contest as he had failed drug tests before and after the fight.
Therefore, Lesnar’s victory over Carwin is his last victory in MMA‘s biggest league to date.
Rogan was asked if he held on to Lesnar’s gum shield during the live broadcast at UFC 116.
“He stuck it in my pocket after it was over and I said, ‘I’m going to sell that s*** on eBay,’” he responded.
“But I’m just going to hang onto it. F*** it. I’m a fan. It’s a trivia moment.
“Plus…what a comeback when he came out for that second round, his hands were up high and like you know you just knew that this motherf***** is not going away.
“He got hit with some bombs, and he was still there and still in really good shape; that was really the big difference.”
“He took Shane down, got in Shane’s half-guard, passed, got on top on him, got him in an arm-triangle and put him to sleep, it was f****** sweet…
“He’s just got much too much power and he’s just going to crush that whole area between your arm and your neck and everything’s going to get smushed and there’s not going to be any air.”
After his consecutive losses to Velasquez and Overeem, Lesnar returned to his career as a WWE superstar.
There were reports that ‘The Beast’ would return for UFC 300 last April, alongside fellow MMA legend Ronda Rousey, but those rumoured plans never came to fruition.
