For the past few weeks, there have been multiple rumors about WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar potentially dropping the title at Summer Slam, and heading back to the UFC. After UFC 214, Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones called out the former UFC star. With that said, should Brock Lesnar go back to the UFC after retiring from the sport just a few months ago?
In his first stint in the UFC from 2008-2011, Lesnar had a professional record of 5-3, with two of those wins coming by knockout, another two by submission, and one by decision. During that time, Lesnar fought the likes of Frank Mir, Heath Herning, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem, and UFC Legend Randy Couture. After his fight against Overeem at UFC 141, Lesnar announced that he was leaving the sport of MMA, mentioning that his battle with diverticulitis was a big reason on why he was leaving the sport.
At UFC 199, the company played a video package, hyping up UFC 200, which already contained a stacked card. At the end of the video, the company announced that Brock Lesnar would be returning for UFC 200. At the event, Lesnar defeated fellow heavyweight Mark Hunt via decision. A few days after the fight, Lesnar got into some hot water with the company when it was revealed that he was tested positive for clomiphene during a drug test, just a few days before the fight took place. The company ruled his win over Hunt a no contest due to the violation, and even fined him $250,000. On top of that, Lesnar was then suspended from competition for one year by the NSAC. In February, Lesnar alerted the UFC that he was retiring from the sport once again.
Before fighting in the UFC, from 2002-2004, Lesnar was a wrestler for the WWE, where he made himself into a household name. In 2002, he even won the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam, defeating The Rock. What most don’t realize it that Lesnar became the youngest person to ever hold a world title in the WWE (25). Before leaving the company in 2004, Lesnar put on great matches and feuds with the likes of Big Show, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Undertaker and most importantly of all, Kurt Angle, who is considered as the greatest rival of Lesnar’s WWE career.
In his stint with the WWE, Brock Lesnar has held the WWE Championship four times, WWE Universal Championship once, was the King Of The Ring winner in 2002, and held victory at Royal Rumble in 2003.
He is a true two-sport athlete, and it is very hard to be successful in both wrestling and MMA. Lesnar has done it successfully, becoming a box office draw every time he steps foot in the octagon or ring.
In his career, he does not have a history of drugs and suspensions. The year of 2016 was the first time in his career that Lesnar was tested positive for drugs, and it got him eventually suspended. If he wanted to come back to the UFC, Lesnar would have to wait for his suspension to end, since it was recently reported that his suspension would still stand.
With fighters in the Heavyweight division such as Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum, Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis, Alistair Overeem and UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic, it would be difficult for Lesnar at the age of 40 to keep up with the powerful Heavyweight division. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see what Lesnar could do.
When you are talking about potential opponents for Lesnar (if he decides to come back), there is one person that stands out, and that man is Jon Jones. A few weeks ago, a wrestling report revealed that Jones would be a potential opponent for Lesnar. After what Jones said after his huge win over Daniel Cormier, it just seems right to have Jones be his next opponent.
When you look at this on paper, Lesnar could match up well with Jones. Both of these fighters have backgrounds in amateur wrestling. If Lesnar wanted to win this potential fight against Jones, he would have to play defensive in the stand-up game. With the weight of both men, Lesnar would have the slight advantage over Jones.
The legacy of Lesnar is going to go down in the history books as one of the best athletes to go from wrestling to MMA. There has been a lot of people that have tried to be successful in both sports, but nobody has accomplished what Lesnar has in his career within both sports. If Lesnar was ever to go back to the UFC, there will be talks that his legacy will be tarnished, but critics should put that behind them and focus on what Lesnar can accomplish when it’s time to fight.
At the end of the day, Lesnar would be able to make a lot more money in one night with a super fight against Jones than in a full year with the WWE. When it comes down to it, it is all about the money for Lesnar, and if a big money fight comes his way, it is likely that he will take it.
Photo Credit Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
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