Brock Lesnar has never really been one to open up to the media but one thing you can't accuse him of is not speaking his mind.
Speaking at the UFC 200 conference call last night, Lesnar reserved some stinging words for people who claim he is on performance enhancing drugs, Stephanie McMahon and, well, just about everybody else.
Lesnar set the tone for the entire call with his very first answer, telling a reporter that he "really doesn't give a shit" if a loss inside the UFC's Octagon might hurt his drawing power in the WWE but it was his response to allegations of PED usage that brought the most out of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D6bBQNUS64
Mark Hunt, who will be Lesnar's first opponent inside the Octagon in almost five years, has openly questioned whether or not Lesnar can be considered a 'clean' athlete. The new USADA-led drug testing in the UFC is among the strictest in the sport and Brock's hastily-announced return last month meant that he was granted a temporary exemption from testing.
Usually when a fighter comes out of retirement they are expected to notify USADA four months in advance so random tests can be arranged. In this case, Lesnar was treated instead as a brand new contractor and testing only began once his return to the UFC had been announced.
This didn't sit well with Mark Hunt who told Fox Sports Australia last month:
I think he's juiced to the gills - and I think I'm going to knock him out. I don't think that's fair. I think that's bullshit, I think it's rubbish. I don't think anyone should be exempt from testing. I think they're trying to clean up the sport - mixed martial arts - this is a bad way to do it. I don't care who you are. It's ridiculous.
Lesnar, who was drug tested five times in a two week period in June, is also been subject to the WWE's wellness policy and, as he said on a UFC 200 media call yesterday, he doesn't care whether you believe he is clean or not.
He said:
I've been dealing with that my entire life. I'm a white boy and I'm jacked, deal with it. What do you want me to say? I'm a white boy and I'm jacked. Deal with it.
Nor has Lesnar allowed the speculation to bother him. In fact, he wasn't even aware that people were talking about this.
I haven't followed much of anything. I never have. I don't have a Twitter account. I don't have a Facebook. It is what it is. To me, it's all BS.
Lesnar's temporary return to the UFC from the WWE is a very interesting precedent to set, marking the first time that someone under WWE contract will feature in a UFC bout. Of course, Ronda Rousey has appeared at WrestleMania and there are strong rumours that UFC starlet Paige VanZant will be involved in SummerSlam as a part of the deal which brought Lesnar to the WWE but appearances like this are lot easier to arrange in the stage-managed world of professional wrestling.
It seems that WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon had tried to distance her company from what happens inside the cage next weekend, saying that "WWE is not supporting the fight, necessarily" - something very hard to believe once you consider that they would have had to sign off on it to allow it to happen.
Lesnar responded to McMahon's comments as only he could, saying with a laugh:
I don't know - I don't care what she thinks.
This is about me living my life, being the person I want to be [...] I don't sit up at night wondering is my drawing power gonna be hurt or are my WWE fans gonna tune in and watch me do this. I don't give two shits about that. This is about me. I want to get in there and be an athlete again. That's what this is about.
