Brock Lesnar is “talking” with UFC president Dana White about a possible return to the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion.
Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times confirmed the news on Jan. 6, tweeting:
This report uncovers a murky situation, one that began before UFC 168 in December 2013 but was quickly put to rest following the show.
Prior to the event, Fox Sports’ Mike Chiappetta reported rumors from MixedMartialArts.com that former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was considering a return to the Octagon and that he would be in attendance at the venue.
However, the card played out, the dust settled, and Lesnar was nowhere to be found. The Monday after, he appeared on a WWE show, and Damon Martin of Fox Sports confirmed that his UFC return talks were generated for the benefit of the professional wrestling promotion, not for White and company.
Now, however, the case has reopened with that tweet from Pugmire.
While Lesnar is under contract with the WWE until 2015, MixedMartialArts.com poster Hammers Hammill suggested that the WWE could waive its no-compete clause and allow him to compete for other organizations, such as the UFC.
Bleacher Report’s David Bixenspan gave his thoughts throughout this well-researched column. He claims that Lesnar is simply using the two sides to gain leverage in future bargaining talks.
Lesnar still claims a championship resume and big wins over Shane Carwin, Randy Couture and Frank Mir, but he lost his belt in devastating fashion to Cain Velasquez and crumbled to body kicks against Alistair Overeem.
Now, Velasquez reigns atop the division, and the deck is more stacked than ever from top to bottom, which makes another title run unlikely, if not impossible, for Lesnar at this point in his career.
For now, nothing is clear, but if the conversation between Pugmire and White holds true, it seems that the Lesnar talks might hold some weight after all.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as more details emerge from the case.
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