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Brock Lesnar To Give Up UFC 200 Purse For Doping Violation?

By Aric Mitchell
Published on: 15:46 PST, Jul 22, 2016

Brock Lesnar defeated Mark Hunt at UFC 200.

No one is disputing that. What is in dispute is the training that the Beast Incarnate used to get what many believe was an unfair advantage over the heavy puncher.

News broke over the last week that Lesnar used an estrogen blocker masking agent similar to what Jon “Bones” Jones used in preparation for his planned UFC 200 bout with Daniel Cormier.

The Cormier-Jones fight didn’t happen because USADA’s drug testing service was able to catch the Jones infraction in time.

Brock Lesnar tested late, and the results didn’t come back until after the event was over.

Some questions arose on a recent edition of the Colin Cowherd show, The Herd, as to whether Brock would get to keep his $2.5 million upfront purse for the match.

Cormier informed Cowherd that USADA has no rules for purse forfeiture, so if Brock Lesnar does decide to forfeit any of his purse for what was essentially cheating, it would have to be voluntary.

Not likely to happen.

Lesnar has never been one to care about what other people think. It’s that type of an attitude that allowed him the bargaining power with a businessman like Vince McMahon, who allowed the WWE-UFC crossover in spite of having a three-year contract with Brock.

As Lesnar said in the press conference after the fight, “Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do.”

Since coming back to the WWE in 2014, Brock has been jockeying for the role of heel even though the fans often cheer him.

Refusing to share his ill-gotten gains with Hunt will do nothing to hurt his brand with his main employer. What it will do, however, is make an actual sports organization — UFC — more leery about working with him in the future.

And the UFC probably should be. If not for the timing of the tainted Brock Lesnar test, the organization would have been looking at both main events being canceled instead of the one.

Since USADA was not able to work quickly enough, Brock essentially walked away with what some outlets are calling an eight-figure payday (hat tip to the Guardian).

While that worked out quite well for Lesnar, it left the UFC with a black eye after it was already dealing with the fallout of rumors it had repeatedly denied regarding the sale of the company.

Essentially, Brock’s flaunting of the organization’s drug testing rules served as a morale killer for existing talent, who feel like their revenue streams have been limited by things like the now infamous Reebok deal (hat tip to Deadspin).

This is already being seen in Mark Hunt’s reaction to the news that Brock Lesnar was doping. Hunt has been quite vocal following the loss, stating that UFC needed to confiscate over half of Brock’s pay and redistribute it to him.

Hunt has also been looking at the possibility of unionizing, according to ESPN.

However you look at it, Brock Lesnar is not likely to give back his purse, and as things currently stand, there is nothing that can be done to take the money he has earned from the upfront payment or the pay per view points that UFC is known for distributing to its fighters.

The refusal to give back the money will likely result in a strained relationship with UFC moving forward, but when you earn as much money as Brock did for the fight with Hunt, there is little to gain for Brock by taking the noble route.

But what do you think, readers?

Should Brock Lesnar give back the money he earned at UFC 200 for fighting while in violation of doping rules, or is he in the clear? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via UFC]

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