Back in March 2015, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar made the official announcement that he had retired from MMA. Lesnar was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at that time and hadn’t fought since 2011, so the retirement didn’t come as much of a surprise.
Saturday’s news, however, is a bombshell. According to Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, Lesnar is close to inking a deal to return to MMA – and the UFC – with a fight at UFC 200 in July. There is no news as of now who his opponent might be, but it likely won’t be a ranked heavyweight, as Lesnar hasn’t been in an MMA fight in five years. He currently holds a 5-3 mixed martial arts record.
As Lesnar stated when announcing his retirement, it was a difficult decision for him to decide between returning to the UFC or signing a new deal with WWE and he opted for the latter.
Lesnar remains under contract with WWE, so if he does indeed return to fight at UFC 200, you can expect plenty of references to WWE, as this would be an ideal bit of cross-promotion for both companies. It would also be a godsend to UFC, which has been scrambling for a true mega-match ever since Conor McGregor pulled out of fighting at the event.
This wouldn’t be the first time WWE and UFC have collaborated, as then-UFC champion Ronda Rousey famously appeared at WrestleMania 31 last year.
Just a couple days ago, wrestling fans were wondering whether Lesnar was gearing up to face Goldberg in WWE soon. Now we might have a full-blown UFC comeback on our hands. What a time to be alive.
