Brock Lesnar: More Media and Fan-Friendly Than Ever Since Being with UFC

Brock Lesnar began his professional career in the limelight by wrestling for the WWF. All of the fans and fame Lesnar brought to the UFC with him are a product of his professional wrestling days.

Constantly being in the limelight and on the road with the WWF wasn't Lesnar's cup of tea and anyone who reads his book Death Clutch gets this sentiment early on in the read. The crazy schedules that didn't allow for time with his family were ultimately what lead to him leaving professional wrestling for new endeavours.

Enter the UFC—Lesnar's star power in the WWF followed him in to his mixed martial arts career and with a record of just 5-2 he became one of the UFC's top draws.

Unlike the WWF, Lesnar hasn't had to fight more than three times in a year and he has been able to hide out in North Dakota with his family between fights. Much to the disdain of media and fans alike Lesnar, until recently, has done a pretty good job of keeping himself out of the spotlight.

Unless a fight was coming up in the near future, Lesnar was completely off the radar even though media was scouring everywhere to get a chance to talk to him.

After his first bout with diverticulitis Lesnar came back to fight and defend his title against Shane Carwin, only to lose it in devastating first-round fashion against Cain Velasquez.

After the loss to Velasquez, Lesnar went missing and all that was reported on him up until this past winter was speculation and rumors. 

A conference call with the UFC in the middle of winter brought Lesnar back to the forefront as it was declared that he would be coming back as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 against Junior dos Santos.

To build up the season premiere of the show, Lesnar made more media appearances in one month than he probably had in three years. He was on ESPN, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a host of other media outlets.

The Ultimate Fighter ran its course, but the ratings were surprisingly down compared to past seasons and many felt it was due to the lack of animosity between Lesnar and dos Santos.

To make matters worse, Lesnar had to pull out of his UFC 131 No. 1 contender fight with dos Santos because his diverticulitis flared back up again.

The media didn't have to guess what was wrong with Lesnar this time, he sat in on the conference call and fielded questions from the reporters.

After having surgery a few weeks ago Lesnar is recovering from the removal of part of his colon and the UFC is expecting his return some time in early 2012.

At this point, one would expect Lesnar to be sitting at home on his farm counting down the days to when he can start training and preparing for his UFC return.

What one wouldn't expect is for Lesnar to be going to fan functions or media days for the UFC, history tells us he hates that stuff and that he refuses to do it, simply not the case this time around.

Lesnar confirmed through his Twitter account that he will be at the UFC Fan Expo just prior to UFC 136 in Houston, Texas.

This begs the question, why is Lesnar all of a sudden being more fan and media friendly than ever before?

For starters, he hasn't been able to fight all too often. Lesnar, since the fall of 2009, has had two bouts with diverticulitis that together will have kept him out of action for a total of close to two years.

Regardless of the fans and drawing power Lesnar acquired during his stint in professional wrestling, if you are injured, sitting at home and leaving the phone off the hook, people will begin to lose interest.

Secondly, the ratings for Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter weren't exactly record-breaking numbers. Lesnar and his management maybe feel like some of his drawing power has already left him and the only way to keep it up is to interact more with fans and media.

Finally, Lesnar has lost some of his lustre in mixed martial arts simply because he was dominated with such ease by Cain Velasquez and to some extent by Shane Carwin except Carwin's gas tank ran out before he could get the finish.

When Lesnar first came to the sport he was an anomaly, 6'3", 280 pounds on fight night and the athleticism of an NFL linebacker, let's face it, the man is a physical specimen. People were intrigued by him and remained intrigued with the more fights he won.

However, his last two fights showed that he shy's away from standing and trading punches in the pocket and simply doesn't react well to being hit. Some people feel as if Lesnar has been exposed and that the novelty has worn off.

For Lesnar, getting out into the limelight maybe isn't up there with going hunting or tending to his farm, but it is a way for him to stay in people's minds and to keep himself relevant until his return which should be sometime in winter 2012.

Leon Horne has been contributing to Bleacher Report for three years now. He focuses mainly on mixed martial arts, but he has also written about tennis, football and hockey. Just send him a message if you want to talk sports or discuss any opportunities. You can follow him on Twitter for updates: