Former UFC Heavyweight Star Brock Lesnar is Set to Appear at UFC 226 and Challenge the Winner of Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier…
Once again the UFC is almost hilariously short-sighted. Brock Lesnar is set to make his return to the world’s leading MMA promotion and challenge the winner of UFC 226’s main event. Stipe Miocic takes on Daniel Cormier in a title clash of epic proportions.
Miocic is the UFC’s most successful heavyweight champion ever, with 3 title defenses. That just goes to show how high a turnover the division has. Lesnar only managed to defend his title twice. Meanwhile, Cormier is the current light-heavyweight champion but does have some pedigree in the heavyweight division, where he was the champion of Strikeforce.
It now looks highly likely that Lesnar will make his return to the fold at UFC 226, where he’ll challenge the victor. Make your own mind up whether or not it’s a good or bad move, but one thing is for sure, if you’re Curtis Blaydes, Francis Ngannou, or Derrick Lewis, you won’t be impressed.
Short-Sighted
The UFC is suffering from an incredible lack of star names at the moment. Even big fights aren’t drawing the fans in. Robert Whittaker narrowly defeated Yoel Romero in one of the tightest, most epic fights of the year, but only 150, 000 pay-per-views were sold. That’s despite the ‘drawing power’ of CM Punk, and Colby Covington talking non-stop s**t.
It just goes to show that all of that isn’t enough. There are only a few fighters with the power to excite mainstream audiences, and most of them aren’t active in the UFC right now. Conor McGregor, the Diaz Brothers, Georges St. Pierre, and Jon Jones. You can add Lesnar to that list too.
If you’re Curtis Blaydes you won’t be impressed by this decision. He’s unbeaten in his last six, with his last win coming over No. 2 ranked Alistair Overeem. Yes, he’s still a fight or two off a title shot, but as a young, exciting contender, he should have been on the main card. The UFC missed a chance to promote a potential future champion, with an epic name.
Lesnar Woes
This would be the second time Lesnar has made a return to the UFC. He famously returned for UFC 200, against Mark Hunt in Las Vegas, back in 2016. However, a unanimous decision win was overturned to a No-Contest after Lesnar tested positive for Clomiphene, a performance-enhancing drug. That resulted in Hunt suing the UFC. Not fun times at all.
Before that, he’d last fought in the UFC back 2011. He lost by TKO in his last two fights – dropping the title to Cain Velasquez and then finally losing to Alistair Overeem. Now he’s 40 and they think he deserves another title shot because he has a recognizable tattoo. It’s ridiculous.
Wait and See
The UFC’s logic is that it would be a money fight. According to Dave Feltzer, they are under pressure to get him back in the USADA testing pool so that he’ll be eligible to fight as soon as possible. His WWE contract expires this summer.
Lesnar had been linked to a possible return fight against Jon Jones. If he were to miraculously win the title that isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. It’s seriously time for the UFC to start taking itself seriously as a sport again because right now it doesn’t know what direction it is moving in.
