Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is Officially Back With the UFC And is Set to Take on Daniel Cormier…
Curtis Blaydes will be sitting at home grinding his teeth. Former UFC heavyweight champion, WWE star, and doping fiend Brock Lesnar is officially back with the world’s biggest MMA promotion. After being called out by Daniel Cormier, it looks like he’ll be fighting the new double champion for the heavyweight crown.
Lesnar famously won the UFC heavyweight title in 2008, when he took out Randy Couture in Round 2 at UFC 91 in Las Vegas. He would defend his belt successfully twice, but would eventually lose to Cain Velasquez, and again to Alistair Overeem, resulting in his return to MMA.
He went back to the WWE but infamously made his first UFC return in 2016 to save UFC 200, against Mark Hunt. His initial win was overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for Clomiphene. Now USADA and Lesnar have confirmed that he’s back in the testing pool and given a timeframe for his return.
Brock Lesnar gets into the Octagon and shoves Daniel Cormier. pic.twitter.com/IYUimGfBcJ
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) July 8, 2018
Drug Cheat
Lesnar’s failed drug test was the end result of a nightmare scenario for the UFC. They were at war with Conor McGregor at the time, who had refused to do media and exiled himself to Iceland – bet you forgot about that! Hunt was furious after Lesnar tested positive for estrogen reducer Clomiphene. He sued the UFC and their relationship hasn’t recovered.
The WWE megastar was hit with a $150,000 fine by USADA and a one year ban. Rumors had been circling that Lesnar would be making another MMA return, with the big question being when because after leaving the UFC, his ban froze. Well, now we know he’ll be eligible to fight again in January. USADA released a statement:
“After receiving notice of his intent to compete in the UFC, USADA re-entered Brock Lesnar to the testing pool on July 3,” the USADA statement read. “With six months and four days remaining on his period of ineligibility, Lesnar will be able to compete on or after January 8, 2019, should he remain in compliance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.”
Daniel Cormier lays out the following fight options only before he retires.
-Brock Lesnar
-Stipe Miocic
-Jon Jones
-Alexander Gustafsson ONLY if he does something specialEveryone else need not apply. He's not here for a long time, he's here for a good time and to get paid.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) July 8, 2018
Good Timing
This actually falls into place quite nicely for Daniel Cormier. The new champion is recovering from an injury to his knuckle. It could be the second half of the year before it is healed. He also wants to defend his light-heavyweight title. Bizarrely, he told Ariel Helwani that he’s interested in going back to 2007 and fighting ‘Shogun’ Rua.
Yes, I know that’s possibly the weirdest thing you’ve ever heard. If it happens, Alexander Gustafsson will surely go to Bellator, because Rua is a long way from relevancy. The point is that Lesnar, Jon Jones, Rua, Gustafsson, and Miocic are his only likely opponents in his remaining 2 or 3 fights.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlBgZY7Ayto/?hl=en&taken-by=ufc
David vs Goliath
Did you see the size of Lesnar compared to Cormier at the weekend? He’s twice DC’s height and almost pushed him out of the T-Mobile Arena down the Las Vegas strip. DC pushed him back and it was like trying to move the Empire State Building. Cormier is going to have to knock him out.
It’s going to be very interesting to see where the UFC goes from here. A lot of fans have responded very negatively to the WWE style of marketing that they used over the weekend. What do you think?
