Brock Lesnar Nearing Deal With UFC: ‘Leverage’ Or ‘Legit’?
Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE in time for a WrestleMania run that saw him break The Undertaker’s famous unbeaten streak and capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from John Cena in the most lopsided main event in the company’s history at this year’s Summerslam.
While WWE tried to do a bit of an about-face and allow Cena to mount some serious offense in the Night of Champions rematch, it did little to soften the blow that the Beast Incarnate’s return made on the sports entertainment company.
WWE doesn’t try to hide the fact that its product is scripted, but it does try to maintain an air of legitimacy to the athleticism involved during each show. And watching Lesnar mow over its best talent has not worked out the way the company intended.
The most recent example of this is in the rumor that Brock Lesnar is nearing a deal with UFC. After UFC head Dana White weighed in on the possibility this week, more people are starting to believe the negotiations and turmoil are why the WWE won’t get its champion back until December — a layoff unheard of even among WWE part-timers.
The UFC even has an opponent lined up for Brock Lesnar should he decide to make his return. In a rematch between Lesnar and the last opponent he beat within the Octagon — heavy-handed Shane Carwin — there would be big money for the WWE superstar.
Lesnar is in a unique position to make that work to his advantage. There is a good possibility he would beat Carwin in the rematch, even though Carwin, now retired, almost knocked him out in the first fight — a fight Lesnar won by submission in round two.
By starting with Carwin, Lesnar could land a significant payday, and an even bigger follow-up against someone like the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
Most MMA insiders don’t expect Brock to go far beyond a short run in the UFC, though. Velasquez and journeyman Alistair Overeem made short work of him in the next two fights following the Carwin victory, and even though Paul Heyman has claimed that Brock Lesnar wasn’t at 100 percent in the UFC due to a crippling bout of diverticulitis, that talk smacks more of hype than legitimacy.
The onus is on Brock Lesnar to prove his MMA critics wrong. Whether he really wants to do that or just use the possibility to squeeze better terms out of WWE remains to be seen.
What do you think, readers? Is Brock Lesnar going to be back in a UFC cage soon or do you expect him to hang with the WWE?
