This Week’s MMA Birthdays: Brock Lesnar Turns 37

---

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder Brock Lesnar will celebrate his 37th birthday on July 12.

Lesnar retired from mixed martial arts following his UFC 141 defeat to onetime Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in December 2011, returning to World Wrestling Entertainment in a part-time capacity. Whispers of a possible return to the UFC surface intermittently, but he has thus far resisted the temptation.

A four-time NCAA All-American wrestler, Lesnar won a Division I national championship at the University of Minnesota in 2000. He captured the UFC heavyweight crown in just his fourth professional appearance, stopping hall of famer Randy Couture with second-round punches in November 2008. He went on to defend the title on two occasions, besting Frank Mir in their UFC 100 rematch and toppling Shane Carwin in come-from-behind fashion at UFC 116. Health woes slowed Lesnar’s rise significantly, as he endured multiple run-ins with diverticulitis, including surgery to remove roughly a foot of his colon.

Those in MMA celebrating a birthday during the week covering July 6-July 12:

JULY 6

Tom Erikson (50)
Masaaki Sugawara (35)

JULY 7

Jason Brilz (39)
Pat Barry (35)
Eliot Marshall (34)
Stav Economou (28)
Patricio Freire (27)

JULY 9

Renato Sobral (39)
Tim Credeur (37)
Gerald Turek (35)
Alan Patrick Silva Alves (31)

JULY 10

Johnnie Morton (43)
Pete Williams (39)
Gleison Tibau (31)
Lester Caslow (30)
Brock Jardine (29)

JULY 11

Josh Clopton (33)

JULY 12

Keiichiro Yamamiya (42)
Brock Lesnar (37)
Carlos Eduardo Rocha (33)
Mitch Whitesel (33)