WWE legend Brock Lesnar, 49, has announced his retirement from professional wrestling after a 26-year career, following his defeat to Oba Femi at SummerSlam in Minneapolis.
Lesnar made the announcement during an appearance on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, telling WWE commentator Pat McAfee and co-host AJ Hawk that Saturday's Hell in a Cell loss to Femi would mark the end of his time in the business.
"I'm here today to let the world know that I am retired and I wanted to say a big thank you to everybody," Lesnar said. "Saturday was a very emotional day for me."
Lesnar, a 10-time WWE champion, has retired and returned to the ring before, and appeared to hint at the end after leaving his gloves and boots in the center of the ring following his WrestleMania 42 match against Femi earlier this year. Despite having enough left to compete again at SummerSlam, he said the Minneapolis defeat would be his last.
"I still had some fuel in the tank, but Saturday for Brock Lesnar, that's it. That's it for me in the squared circle and for everything else too," Lesnar added. "So I just wanted to give a shout-out to everybody in this universe that has followed me since I was a little kid, all the way till Saturday."
Two decades in WWE
Lesnar began his WWE career in 2002 after a college wrestling career that made him a two-time NJCAA All-American with a 106-5 record over four years. He worked his way onto the main roster and became one of the promotion's biggest stars, but his first stint ended in 2004 after a defeat at WrestleMania XX, when he cited burnout, injuries and creative dissatisfaction as his reasons for leaving.
He returned to WWE in 2012 and won several championship titles before appearing to retire at WrestleMania 36. That retirement proved short-lived, and he returned to the ring in 2021 with a new "cowboy" look featuring a beard and ponytail.
In 2023, Lesnar was named in a sex trafficking lawsuit against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, filed by former employee Janel Grant. He was removed from the WWE roster and wiped from event plans, enduring a two-year exile from the organization. He returned at SummerSlam in August 2025, despite the Grant lawsuit remaining active, and took part in a handful of fights before officially retiring a year later.
NFL and UFC career
Away from wrestling, Lesnar attempted a professional football career after first leaving WWE in 2004. He took part in the NFL Scouting Combine but suffered a broken jaw and hand in a motorcycle accident that put his progress on hold. Despite the injuries, several NFL teams remained interested, and he signed with the Minnesota Vikings as a defensive tackle in July 2004, though he was released the following month.
Lesnar then turned to mixed martial arts, fighting for the K-1 promotion from April 2006 and winning his first bout by first-round submission. He signed with Dana White's UFC in 2008 and, despite losing his first fight, was given a multi-fight deal by UFC chief White. He became UFC heavyweight champion after beating Randy Couture in November 2008. In total he had eight UFC fights, winning four and losing three, with his final bout ruled a no-contest after he tested positive for clomiphene.
