A recovering Lesnar plans UFC return

Heavyweight Brock Lesnar, speaking publicly Wednesday for the first time since suffering a major intestinal infection that could have ended his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, said he expects to return to the octagon in the summer.

“I have a different outlook on life from this, but when it comes to fighting, I’ll still be dishing out pain,” Lesnar said. He anticipates fighting against the March 27 winner of the Frank Mir-Shane Carwin bout.

After defending his UFC heavyweight title in July with a second-round demolition of Mir, Lesnar, 32, had to scrap two scheduled bouts with Carwin as he struggled through diverticulitis, a severe intestinal infection that can cause extreme pain and even prove fatal.

Lesnar, calling his recovery “a miracle,” recounted horrific days in November when he awoke during a Canadian hunting trip “in a cold sweat, in shock, not knowing where I was,” and being rushed to a medical facility that he claims failed to properly diagnose and treat his condition.

“I got up from my hospital bed, got in my car and drove across the border to the U.S.,” Lesnar said. “I knew I needed more help.”

He landed in a Bismarck, N.D., medical center, where doctors found “a hole in my stomach,” he said, and were prepared to have the former NCAA wrestling champion and World Wrestling Entertainment star undergo career-ending surgery that would require him to wear a colostomy bag.

Immediate signs of healing delayed an emergency operation, Lesnar said. After 11 days of antibiotics and intravenous feeding, he visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a second opinion, where at first they deemed the career-threatening operation was necessary.

UFC President Dana White, calling the medical drama “a crazy ride,” said Lesnar went home and began eating healthier, with hopes of treating a condition that caused him to drop 40 pounds to 248 pounds.

Lesnar returned for a medical checkup Jan. 5 and doctors told him, “you just got a winning lottery ticket,” he said, because the infected area had healed.

Lesnar has been lifting weights, doing cardio workouts and has resumed gym training. He now weighs 273 pounds. “I got the green light from the doctors,” he said.

He is eager to return to the UFC, whose heavyweight division has been fortified in his absence with impressive performances by Mir, Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. “There’s some talent, which is good,” Lesnar said. “I know one thing: all those guys are [worried] again.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com