Wrestling icon Brock Lesnar had a crazy demand for Dana White ahead of his UFC debut.
Lesnar ditched a promising WWE career in the early 2000s and soon turned to MMA, having just one combat sports fight before being signed by White in 2008.
As a former amateur wrestling champion, he was more than prepared to go toe-to-toe with the UFC’s best heavyweights.
However, the grandeur of the professional stage was daunting, and anxiety is something he has suffered with throughout his career.
Therefore, he asked White for a big favour to help him feel ready which was duly delivered by the promotion’s boss.
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Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show (as transcribed by Wrestling Inc), Lesnar said: “It’s a different game, you know, entering the Octagon.
“And I’m telling you, you’ve got to be – like, you’ve got to be half bats*** crazy.
“Like when you go through the door, like, I built or ordered an Octagon so I could, didn’t have at first, like, jitters of getting in an Octagon.
“I’m like, ‘Dana, I want an Octagon’ and like, ah boom, [the UFC] shipped an Octagon. So I can fight in it and practice in it, you know?
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“But then you’re in front of 20,000 people and they shut the door and it’s like, ‘Ahhh’.”
The preparation didn’t pay off for Lesnar as he tapped out to Frank Mir in his first UFC fight.
“I was so mad at myself, Lesnar added. “It just built another thing that the people ram down your throat and say you can’t do something.
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“Love those people. Love them. I get goosebumps for that. I had a one-fight deal, and I was like, ‘Please give me another shot at this’.
“Boom, then it took off. I fought Heath Herring and then I got Randy Couture and won the belt.”
Lesnar has not fought in the UFC since 2016 when he beat Mark Hunt before the win was overturned to a no-contest following a failed drug test.
