What’s Brock Lesnar’s MMA Legacy?

At first glance, Brock Lesnar doesn’t really seem to be human—even after all of these years. He wears the scars of those converging worlds of faux falls and real punches. He is a little craggy here and there, still built more like a mountain of molten lava that transformed somehow into human form. There’s no neck. There may have never been a neck. And his head looks like a cinder block stationed on top of two boulders. Lesnar appears more creation than fighter. And in the mixed martial arts world, that’s what he just might be.

On Saturday night, at UFC 200 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lesnar will make his return to the Octagon after almost five years away from MMA, taking on 5-foot-10 Mark Hunt (12-10-1) in the co-feature between Daniel Cormier and Anderson Silva, after Jon "Bones" Jones was removed from the card for testing positive for a banned substance.

Maybe this is something Brock Lesnar needs.

Five years ago, the former NCAA national wrestling heavyweight champion, four-time WWE champion and former UFC heavyweight champ was an embarrassment. Cain Velasquez left him a bloody pulp at UFC 121, and against former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, Lesnar was slow, defensive, and indecisive and after one kick to his midsection was hurt and finished, down on his left knee covering up his face at UFC 141.

That’s the last image MMA fans have of someone once deemed “the baddest man alive.”

So what can Lesnar get out of UFC 200?

Possibly regain some lost respect he had owned when he first embarked on his MMA journey. Beating Hall of Famer Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin did that. And then it was lost. Maybe it was his battle with diverticulitis that hollowed him out and slowed him down? Maybe it was his reluctance to give a fulltime commitment to MMA—straddling his two fighting worlds? Or maybe it was just a case of Lesnar not being that good to begin with? A hyped-up “name” to induce more business— and that he did—to a sport that was still searching for an identity when he came along.

Whatever it was, Lesnar (5-3) on Saturday night is fighting more than just Hunt, who’s on a two-fight win streak and is coming off a “Performance of the Night” victory over Mir at UFC Fight Night on March 20. Lesnar will be fighting to reclaim a portion of something that he left six years ago.

In fact, UFC betting odds have Lesnar as the underdog.

He actually has a lot to lose. Another loss in the what-have-done-lately world of pro sports would crush the good he accomplished when he first invaded the MMA scene.

If Lesnar wins, should he be considered a UFC Hall of Famer?

He does carry one argument very strongly. Before Lesnar, UFC, and MMA in general, were still at the fringes of the mainstream sports world. Lesnar’s entry into the MMA community took with it his multitude of WWE fans, and major exposure on primetime crossover sports outlets like ESPN’s SportsCenter. He was a megastar that gave the sport a mega jolt. Lesnar’s fights weren’t just fights—they held with them the magnitude of events that went beyond UFC and MMA.

People were attracted to this pro wrestler who could really fight.

And early on, Lesnar proved that he could.

But on July 12, Lesnar will turn 39—with his insides probably going on 69. In 2009 and in 2011, he underwent two major surgeries, one that removed a 12-inch piece of his colon.

He’s fought back to become a factor once again in the pretend WWE biosphere, and that’s been in a part-time capacity.

Lesnar is certainly not doing this for the money. He’s well compensated by the WWE.

And though he may not come out and say it publicly, maybe there is a slight hint in the corner of Lesnar’s mind that he wants the MMA sphere and his fans to remember him on his feet with his hands raised—not covering a bloody mask that once used to be Brock Lesnar.