Mark Henry Recalls Shoot Fight With Brock Lesnar

When you've broken as many strength records as Mark Henry, your size and your strength can easily go to your head.

"I used to do this 'final exam time,'" Henry said in an interview with Sportskeeda's Bill Apter, describing a one-on-one evaluation that Henry would do in Ohio Valley Wrestling to test the trainees, "and it finally it got to the time where Brock was in there."

Because both men were seen as big, strong monsters, Henry said there was natural tension between the two."I was like, 'Today's the day, let's go.'" Brock was initially confused, but Henry felt invincible in the face of the burgeoning MMA boom that was occurring at the time.

"I didn't think karate worked," Henry joked. "I mean, it'll work on someone that's their own size. But I mean trying to put me in a chokehold or trying to kick me, I didn't think would work." Henry chalks this cockiness up to "the arrogance of the strength that I had at that time."

"I felt like if you pulled a gun out, it wouldn't kill me," Henry chuckled. "It probably would, but it's gonna take more than one shot."

According to Henry, Brock tried to topple Henry with a double leg takedown, but Henry was able to sprawl and counter with a gutwrench. Lesnar blocked Henry's attempt at suplexing him, and both men were broken up.

"So now, Brock is about six feet away from me," Henry continued. "I knew in my heart that he couldn't get to me, he was gonna have to get closer, but I was wrong." Henry says that Lesnar quickly covered the distance between himself and Henry and went for Henry's ankle. "He put both hands behind my ankle, and his shoulder at my knee, and hyper-extended my knee."

Henry says the injury kept him out of competition for 6-7 weeks. Lesnar was immediately concerned — not only for Henry, but for himself.

"He was like, 'You hurt?' and I was like, 'Damn, I can't move,'" Henry recounted. "He was like, 'They're gonna fire me.' I said 'No, they're not gonna fire you, they're gonna fire me.'"

"We got a laugh out of it," Henry concluded, saying that Lesnar possesses "dangerous" natural abilities. "I knew about his strength, but I had no idea how fast he was."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Sportskeeda" and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.