Brock Lesnar not returning to MMA, says Dana White

Since UFC 226 concluded in July 2018, we all thought that a Brock Lesnar MMA return was inevitable. Well, it seems that plans have changed.

According to UFC President Dana White, the WWE star and former UFC heavyweight champion is “done, he’s retired,” White told ESPN. “We’re going to move in another direction with [Daniel] Cormier.”

The plan now appears to be a rematch between the heavyweight champion in Daniel Cormier and the former champion who he took the title from at the aforementioned UFC 226, Stipe Miocic.

After the Cormier win, Lesnar stormed the cage to confront the new champion as the two traded words. Although Lesnar was still fulfilling his contract with WWE, which he would eventually go on to re-sign with, the expression from the UFC and Cormier was that they wanted this title fight next.

After Lesnar’s recent loss at WrestleMania 35 earlier this month where he dropped the WWE Universal championship, it seemed like it was obvious that his transition back into MMA was next.

For Lesnar, his last MMA appearance came in July 2016 at UFC 200 when he fought Mark Hunt in what was initially a unanimous decision win before it was overturned to a no contest thanks to a failed USADA test by Lesnar.

Miocic, on the other hand, hasn’t fought since losing to Cormier and has been persistent on getting his rematch. During his reign, the Ohio native would break the record for title defenses in the UFC heavyweight division with three.

Since UFC 226, Cormier has successfully defended his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 as he won via second-round submission (rear-naked choke). Shortly after that, he would relinquish his light heavyweight crown as he was to be stripped at UFC 232 when Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson rematched.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/30/2019