We believe many of you would like to see Brock Lesnar in the octagon as soon as possible. But don’t be surprised – USADA’s position on returning fighters is more critical than before.
There are big chances that Brock Lesnar will return until the end of 2018. He has been invited recently at UFC 226 on July 7th to challenge the winner of the match between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. From there, he should fight for the belt at UFC 232 on December 29th, 2018.
There are few steps The Conqueror has to do before he sees the winner. First, he has to agree to the fight, and currently, this is less probable than Dana White initially believes. Brock has already stated that he is looking for a big money match, and even a beating from Jon Jones comes into a consideration. Jon Jones has already warned Lesnar that he is “a different animal”.
Would he risk that much and enter the octagon with the winner of UFC 226 main event? There is another possibility – WWE might offer more money to keep Lesnar since he is their gold mine.
Brock Lesnar is also currently under USADA suspension since he failed drug test back in 2016. He has won Mark Hunt at UFC 200 but the contest is overturned and the clock on his one-year suspension stopped. It happened at the moment Brock Lesnar left the USADA testing pool to return to pro wrestling, and it will be restarted if he decides to get back inside the octagon.
USADA keeps a very close eye on the list of suspicious fighters. There were few situations where USADA hid who were tested from the public eye. TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter posted a very interesting comment related to an unaired episode of Dana White’s Lookin’ For A Fight.
Just FYI — I reached out to USADA to see if Brock Lesnar had asked to be re-entered into the testing pool. USADA informed me they couldn't confirm a fighter coming out of retirement any longer until the fighter makes it public first.
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) June 16, 2018
UFC guarded Brock Lesnar news like an alien technology gun in the past. You might have doubts in the past that USADA would compromise their transparency for the sake of a promotional pop with pro wrestling fans, but nobody gets away so easily now. Just take a look at the Twitter post from Damon Martin above.
Some changes were made by USADA testing recently and fighters could be picked randomly. Brock Lesnar might be currently on the testing pool, and we could have known absolutely nothing about it. But one thing is certain – rules are now stricter and The Conqueror has no right to make the mistake if he ever wants to see the inside of the octagon again.
