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Brock Lesnar’s recovery from a serious intestinal condition is proceeding better than expected.  So much better than expected that the UFC heavyweight champion is talking about a possible May return to action.  This is no doubt a great relief to the UFC, which has struggled to fill the PPV/box office void left by his lengthy absence.  It’s also good news for MMA fans because like him or not, the sport is a whole lot more interesting with Lesnar than without him.

Even the announcement of Lesnar’s return to action has increased mainstream media coverage of the UFC, with ESPN Sports Center covering this story on Wednesday morning.  Lesnar is planning to resume fight training immediately, and the working plan is a matchup against the Frank Mir/Shane Carwin winner.  Mir/Carwin is slated to take place on March 27, so the winner would have to come out of the fight without sustaining any serious injury to make a May fight against Lesnar.  Mir and Carwin were originally supposed to be fighting for the ‘Interim’ heavyweight title but it may end up just being for the #1 contender status with Lesnar’s return now imminent.   If a match with the Carwin/Mir winner doesn’t work out logistically, Lesnar will likely fight the winner of the Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira bout.

For the first time since Lesnar’s health went south, he specifically addressed his ailments.  He’s suffered from diverticulitis and diverticulosis, which caused him to lose 40 pounds–30 of which he’s reportedly re-gained.  Lesnar credits a change in diet with the ‘miracle cure’ that allowed him to receive a clean bill of health without surgery, and has admitted that if serious surgery had been necessary he would have most likely retired.

The Lesnar health soap opera has been quite the roller coaster ride for everyone concerned and began with reports that he was suffering from the flu.  When his condition didn’t immediately improve, the working diagnosis became a nasty bout of pneumonia and later mononucleosis.   Lesnar described just how nasty his condition was in an article by Lance Pugmire in the Los Angeles Times:

Lesnar, calling his recovery “a miracle,” recounted horrific days in November when he awoke during a Canadian hunting trip “in a cold sweat, in shock, not knowing where I was,” and being rushed to a medical facility that he claims failed to properly diagnose and treat his condition.

“I got up from my hospital bed, got in my car and drove across the border to the U.S.,” Lesnar said. “I knew I needed more help.”

He landed in a Bismarck, N.D., medical center, where doctors found “a hole in my stomach,” he said, and were prepared to have the former NCAA wrestling champion and World Wrestling Entertainment star undergo career-ending surgery that would require him to wear a colostomy bag.

Immediate signs of healing delayed an emergency operation, Lesnar said. After 11 days of antibiotics and intravenous feeding, he visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a second opinion, where at first they deemed the career-threatening operation was necessary.

Lesnar was re-evaluated by his doctors on January 5th, who told him “you just got a winning lottery ticket” as the intestinal infection had healed.  Dana White and the UFC are co-winners of the Lesnar lottery, as he’s the biggest PPV moneymaker in the sport at the moment.  We look forward to seeing Lesnar’s return to action in the near future.