Cormier vs. Lesnar in Works for August

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani recently appeared on SportsCenter to discuss the social media situation involving Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he was also asked about another athlete — Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar, still currently with the WWE as its Universal Champion, will defend the title against Seth Rollins at this Sunday’s WrestleMania 35 event at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As was the case in the 2015 and 2018 events, rumors have swirled that Lesnar will be dropping the championship and leaving the worldwide-leading wrestling promotion to return to the Octagon.

Lesnar, the former UFC heavyweight champion, has not competed in the UFC since making a one-off appearance at UFC 200 back in July 2016. He failed a drug test, however, and received a one-year suspension from USADA, which froze upon retiring again in early 2017.

Lesnar re-appeared in the UFC at UFC 226 in July 2018, watching Daniel Cormier knock out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship and become the second “champ-champ” in UFC history. Lesnar was called into the Octagon by Cormier, a WWE fan, and Lesnar shoved the UFC champion.

The UFC has been looking to book Cormier against Lesnar with the UFC title on the line, and, according to Helwani, that fight may finally take place this summer.

“The UFC wants him back. As of right now, he wants to be back,” Helwani said. “They’re giving him a heavyweight title fight if he comes back. Daniel Cormier, the heavyweight champion, wants to fight him. Right now the plan is for them to fight in August later on this summer for that heavyweight championship. So, it’s not signed just yet but that is currently the plan.”