After being away from mixed martial arts for five years, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar made his return to the UFC at this past Saturday nights UFC 200 event, where he faced off with top ten heavyweight Mark Hunt. Most believed that Hunt would knock Lesnar out in the very first round, but the current WWE star was able to impose his game plan in rounds one and three as he used a ground and pound style on his way to a unanimous decision victory over the ‘Super Samoan.”
After not being ranked for obvious reasons, Lesnar moved into the top ten in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings . He’s now ranked at number eight, while Hunt has dropped to number nine. It’s unclear if Lesnar will ever return to the UFC, but if he does, Hunt says he would like a rematch with “The Beast.”
TMZ Sports recently caught up with Mark Hunt , and they asked him about his fight with Lesnar, and if he’d be willing to face the WWE star again. They also asked him if he’d be willing to wrestle Lesnar at next month’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, but Hunt refused, saying that he’d only want to fight the WWE star in the UFC because he “wants to stick to real fighting.”
“Of course [I’d like a rematch with Brock Lesnar]. I don’t think I’ll be showing up at SummerSlam . I’m trying to stick to real fighting.”
Lesnar reportedly made $8 million to fight at UFC 200, and if the new UFC owners are willing to offer the WWE star that much money for him to return, then you can bet that we’ll see him fight at least one more time.
At the post-fight press conference on Saturday night, Lesnar was pretty non-committal about his fighting future, but he did say that “Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do.” So, he pretty much suggested that, if he wants to fight again, he’ll do it, even if WWE doesn’t support him.
Of course, prior to the fight, Lesnar said that his fighting future would be up to WWE chairman Vince McMahon . So, that contradicts his statement at the UFC 200 post-fight press conference.
Lesnar’s WWE contract doesn’t expire until the spring of 2018, so if he does want to fight again in the near future, he’ll need WWE’s approval.
Will Mark Hunt get a rematch with Lesnar if he returns to the UFC? Probably not. Lesnar soundly defeated Hunt, and even though he did finish the fight, all three judges scored the third round a 10-8 in favor of Lesnar, so that pretty much tells you how dominant he was towards the end of the fight.
If Lesnar does return to the UFC, he’ll probably fight either Cain Velasquez or Alistair Overeem. Both men have handed Lesnar TKO losses that the WWE star hasn’t been able to avenge, and Lesnar has said that he’d be interested in fighting Velasquez again if he returns to fighting.
For now, Lesnar is busy with his WWE commitments. He’s set to return to WWE television on next week’s WWE draft show, and then he’ll begin the build to his SummerSlam match with Randy Orton after that. Lesnar vs. Orton is a match that WWE fans have been wanting to see ever since Lesnar returned to the company back in 2012, and it could end up being the match of the night at next month’s big show in Brooklyn.
After SummerSlam , we probably won’t see Lesnar on WWE television until January, so if he wants to fight again, he has a three-month window to do so because he’ll be in the middle of the build to WrestleMania 33 after the new year.
[Image via Rey Del Rio / Getty Images ]