A couple of reports out today indicate that Brock Lesnar is recovering from his bout with diverticulitis and could be back in action as soon as July 2010. Here’s what Bloody Elbow says about the whole thing, quoting a couple of other sources:

MMA Weekly talks to Greg Nelson, Lesnar’s head coach:

Greg Nelson, a two-time cancer survivor who leads Lesnar’s fight camps along with Erik Paulson and Marty Morgan, said the UFC heavyweight champ is still recovering from a severe case of diverticulitis (an infection in the digestive tract), but wants to get back into the gym.

Heavy.com adds more:

Heavy.com has learned from UFC sources that the company is internally targeting July as a potential return date for Lesnar and that the Lesnar/Carwin bout could headline the UFC’s initial foray into Massachusetts. A July date has been secured with the TD Garden in Boston for a card that will serve as the centerpiece of the UFC’s summer 2010 schedule.

Please note that much of the information that came from Dana White regarding Lesnar’s health has not been borne out. Nelson confirms to MMA Weekly that Lesnar never went to the Mayo Clinic for instance.

While we wish Lesnar the best in his recovery and hope the timeline is correct, as BE notes there’s been so much said about his health issues that who knows what the real deal is. Over the past six months he’s been reported to have the flu, mono, pneumonia, that he’s dying, that he’ll never fight again, that doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him so on and so forth. Like him or not, Lesnar is the biggest PPV attraction in the sport at the moment and definitely makes things more interesting.

The strangest thing about all of Lesnar’s health issues is Dana White repeatedly painting a grimmer picture than appears to exist in reality. Granted, he’s a guy given to hyperbole and prevarication but still hard to figure out why he’d be making things seem worse than they are. There’s a few theories that the UFC knew he’d be out for a while and are making his health issues seem worse for a big ‘babyface pop’ when Lesnar does return. Could be they figured that if he’s going to be out of action anyway they might as well set it up to make it as huge of a deal as possible when he does return. Who knows…

UFC expects Lesnar back July 2010 @ Bloody Elbow