Daniel Cormier Responds to Brock Lesnar's MMA Retirement and WWE Return

Back in July 2018 Brock Lesnar stormed the Octagon after the main event fight of UFC 226 and got [...]

By Connor Casey

Back in July 2018 Brock Lesnar stormed the Octagon after the main event fight of UFC 226 and got in the face of reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier. In the months that followed the UFC would continue to tease a possible title fight between Cormier and "The Beast," with Paul Heyman going so far as to hint that Lesnar was leaving for the UFC at WrestleMania 35. However in late April UFC president Dana White stated that Lesnar had officially retired from the sport of mixed martial arts and moved on to promote a new fight between Cormier and former champion Stipe Miocic.

On Thursday ESPN's Marc Raimondi spoke with Cormier regarding how the fight with Lesnar fell through.

"I'm sure Brock couldn't come to terms with the UFC, in terms of financial offer," Cormier said. "There's a lot of uncertainty in the world of mixed martial arts right now in terms of pay-per-view. It's not as straight forward as when Brock was there.I think when Brock looked at the landscape of the sport, what they were offering him, Brock said, 'I can make guaranteed money [in WWE].' Not work as hard. He'd have to work his ass off [to fight me] and it's probably gonna go the bad way. Whereas with the WWE, it's usually determined in his favor. So, as a businessman, I think Brock made the right decision."

Lesnar returned to the WWE at Money in the Bank, winning the Money in the Bank contract by interfering in the main event and grabbing the briefcase. He's since teased cashing-in the contract on either Seth Rollins or Kofi Kingston multiple times on WWE television.

"Everybody is talking like, 'Oh, Vince McMahon keeps putting the belt on Brock' or keeps doing this with Brock. Brock Was on the pay-per-view and then Brock was on Monday night and the ratings increased," Cormier said. "... There's a method to the old man's madness. He just continues to kind of rely on Brock and Brock has shown to be a commodity that keeps working for him."

After initially retiring from MMA in late 2011, Lesnar made a surprise return to the UFC in 2016 for a fight against Make Hunt at the UFC 200 event. While he initially won the fight, the bout was later ruled a No Contest after Lesnar tested positive for the banned substance clomisphene.

In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Paul Heyman confirmed that Lesnar had moved on from the sport, saying White's statement was "100% accurate."

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