Brock Lesnar Calls It a Career After SummerSlam Loss to Oba Femi

Brock Lesnar is done. On Tuesday, the 49-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion told The Pat McAfee Show he's officially retiring from professional wrestling, closing out a 26-year run in the business that stretches back to 2000. His last match came this past Saturday at SummerSlam, where he dropped his storyline feud with Oba Femi.

That loss now stands as the final bout of Lesnar's in-ring career. The Femi rivalry had been building since earlier this year, with Femi also booked over Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 back in April. Lesnar said the WrestleMania slam was the moment he sensed the end was near, and that Saturday sealed it. He thanked the fans and framed himself, as he often has, as a farm kid from South Dakota with a big chip on his shoulder.

From College Champ to Box-Office King

Lesnar was one of the most hyped wrestling prospects ever, signing with the then-WWF straight out of the University of Minnesota after winning an NCAA Division-I heavyweight title in 2000. He debuted on the main roster in 2002 and became the promotion's youngest world champion at 25, going over Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at SummerSlam that same year. Burnout pushed him out the door in 2004, followed by a brief, football-inexperienced NFL detour.

Then came MMA. After beating Kim Min-soo in his 2007 debut, Lesnar lost his UFC bow to Frank Mir, rebounded past Heath Herring, and knocked out Randy Couture to grab the heavyweight belt in just his fourth pro fight. It was a rocket-ride ascent, and it moved the needle like almost nothing else in the sport — Lesnar routinely cleared 1,000,000 pay-per-view buys whenever he headlined.

The Complicated Send-Off

He defended the title twice before Cain Velasquez took it, then returned to WWE in 2012. His last UFC appearance came at UFC 200 in 2016, a win over Mark Hunt that was overturned to a no-contest after Lesnar failed a drug test. Hunt sued Lesnar and the promotion, kicking off years of litigation. Lesnar was also briefly pulled off WWE TV after being named in the Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon, before returning to the ring in 2025.

Now the famously private Lesnar says he's stepping out of the spotlight to focus on family. He's got hunting lined up, two sons playing hockey, and a daughter, Mya, a national shotput champion at Colorado State with her sights set on the 2028 Olympics. After a career this loud, Lesnar's exit plan sounds refreshingly quiet: spend time in the woods and enjoy it.