LAS VEGAS _ Just over a month since he announced his return to combat fighting, Brock Lesnar doesn't appear to be as prepared as he'd like for his UFC 200 appearance.
Yet, after more than a five-year absence from the sport, he's enthused as never before.
And though the comeback of the former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE headliner might be a one-time appearance, maybe it won't.
Perhaps all that matters is that Lesnar's back, and after drawing the second-largest pay-per-view in company history when he successfully defended his belt over Frank Mir at UFC 100 in 2009, another financial windfall is expected.
Lesnar, who'll turn 39 next week, will fight eighth-ranked heavyweight Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200 before the light-heavyweight title main event between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones at T-Mobile Arena.
The heavy-handed veteran Hunt, 42, has knocked out Mir and former heavyweight title challenger Antonio Silva in the first round of his last two fights.
"Obviously, I'm here to win a fight. I'm prepared for whatever," said Lesnar, plotting to win by relying on the wrestling skill he honed in NCAA action.
When someone asked Lesnar at Wednesday's news conference how many rounds he sparred in stand-up striking, there was extended silence.
"What'd you say?" Lesnar asked, laughs building as he forced the reporter to repeat the question then quickly answered, "Three-thousand!"
Lesnar unmistakably relished the authenticity of the event.
"I feel ... awesome," he said. "My health is behind me. I'm sitting here at UFC 200, soaking it all in."
His thirst for non-scripted fighting outside WWE proved undeniable after he felt completely recovered from the intestinal ailment diverticulitis, which he blamed for his departure following a knockout loss to Alistair Overeem.
"I (considered coming back) for a while, and really I was standing there one day on my property (in Canada) and just thought, 'It's time,' " he said.
"I can't sit and think about this and be caught up in this thought process of wanting and wishing and wondering if I should do it.
"I'm a person who pulls the trigger. I don't want any regrets. That's how simple it really was. I didn't want to be sitting around the rest of my days on this Earth wondering why I didn't step back in the cage again, so here we are."
How long it will last is known to only a small circle of men, perhaps only Lesnar and his WWE boss Vince McMahon, who wasn't immediately available to comment on the hypothetical scenario of an impressive Saturday victory by Lesnar.
UFC President Dana White has maintained this is a "one-and-done" venture, but Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta said a Lesnar victory could provoke follow-up conversations. On the dais Wednesday, for instance, sat Cain Velsasquez, who took Lesnar's belt.
"Brock Lesnar remains under contract to WWE. However, we granted his request for a one-off opportunity to compete at UFC 200," a WWE spokesperson emailed in a statement to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. "Brock will make his WWE return at SummerSlam on Aug. 21 (at Brooklyn's Barclays Center) live on WWE Network."
Lesnar acknowledged, "I'm booked through August and then we'll see what happens," with WWE, but he's implied in an interview with Fox that if things are going well in the UFC, McMahon will find a happier Lesnar a more pleasant employee.
"I guess (the future beyond UFC 200) is not a question for me, that's a question for Vince McMahon, right?" Lesnar said at the news conference. "Let's get through Saturday and see what happens."
