Brock Lesnar’s return to the UFC once seemed like a near certainty.
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Lesnar and UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier had been having words for months, and Lesnar even appeared at a UFC event and got into the Octagon to seemingly build for the eventual title fight.
Ultimately, Lesnar decided that his best days in MMA were behind him and decided to walk away from the title match, re-signing with WWE instead.
Though Lesnar’s age would certainly put him on the latter side of his MMA career, one more championship match against Cormier would have certainly done big business. However, UFC President Dana White thinks Lesnar made the right decision.
During a question and answer session on Instagram, White was asked directly about Lesnar’s decision to retire and stick with professional wrestling.
“I wasn’t pissed at all,” White said during a live interview session on Instagram (via MMA Fighting). “Brock had a good run here. It’s been fun. In this business, you have to be 100 percent invested. You’ve got to be in. It’s not where his head was. He made the right decision.”
Instead, Cormier will now face former Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 241 in August.
Earlier this month, Dana White sat down with ESPN and speculated on why Lesnar chose to turn down that blockbuster UFC match against Cormier and instead remain in pro wrestling. According to White, the move had nothing to do with UFC moving into a partnership with ESPN+ and a restructuring of their traditional PPV points system for fighters. Instead, it’s very simple: Brock got a better deal from WWE.
“That’s not why Brock Lesnar didn’t fight,” White said (in regards to the ESPN+ restructuring). “Brock Lesnar got a better deal is basically what happened for Brock.”
UFC’s new partnership with ESPN+ will likely alter the way in which fighters receive payouts from big fights and there had been some speculation that the new deal soured Lesnar’s feelings about an MMA return.
