Brock Lesnar is not coming back, and the date and competition for another name defense of UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has been set.
According to a report from ESPN, after Lesnar informed UFC president Dana White he isn’t returning into the Octagon, Cormier will now fight Stipe Miocic at a rematch in a UFC PPV after this summer, taking place August 17 in Anaheim, California. It is not yet known if that PPV will be known as UFC 240 or UFC 241.
The showing of this rematch between Cormier and Miocic puts a stop to the rumors that Lesnar will be returning to the Octagon to combat Cormier. If you recall, after Cormier knocked out Miocic past summer at UFC 226, Lesnar entered the Octagon and pushed Cormier, together with the UFC announcing plans for that struggle to be next. On the contrary, it never occurred. Lesnar continued to wrestle for WWE while Cormier proceeded to earn a successful title defense against Derrick Lewis. Miocic, meanwhile, had retained high hopes of getting a rematch. It was not anticipated the UFC would reward him with one, but now it appears that’s the case.
Cormier (22-1, 1 NC) is 11-1, 1 NC from the UFC with a perfect 4-0 record as a heavyweight inside the Octagon. Besides a loss to Jon Jones along with a No Decision to Jones, Cormier was flawless in his MMA career. He’s now riding a three-fight win streak, with victories over Lewis, Miocic and Volkan Oezdemir within his past three contests. He hasn’t lost a fight in over four decades, because the very first Jones bout. Now 40 decades old, Cormier does not have many fights left in him, and it was expected he would fight Lesnar and maybe Jones for a third period before drifting off into the sunset. Rather, he will now take on Miocic in a rematch.
Miocic (18-3) is 12-3 overall from the UFC. He hasn’t fought since his surprising KO loss to Cormier last summer, but before that has been riding a six-fight win streak that included victories over the likes of Franics Ngannou, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski and Mark Hunt. He had been demanding a rematch against Cormier for a while, but the UFC was determined that Lesnar would find the rematch. But with Lesnar currently not being a part of the UFC’s future programs, Miocic is getting the rematch he warrants.
Though Miocic was the favorite heading into the first battle, it is difficult to see him being preferred in the rematch. Instead, it seems quite likely that Cormier will be the betting favorite for this second battle. After all, he deserves it considering he brutally knocked out Miocic the first time that they fought. That is not to say it will not be an intriguing rematch. Miocic has all of the abilities in the world to make the adjustments required to make the rematch a more aggressive struggle, and now we’ll learn whether he can accomplish this. He’ll be looking to recover his gold this summer, while Cormier will be seeking to get another win and continue to build his legacy.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links and MMA Odds Breaker is going to be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on the links.
Read more: fighttube.tv