There’s been rumors for a while that Brock Lesnar could be set to return to the UFC in 2015, and it seems that even the WWE themselves seem to be buying into the idea.
“The Lesnar people always keep things quiet, but within the company, the belief is that he’s going back to UFC, and his showing up lighter to TV last week confirmed that to people who thought it,” said WWE insider Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The 37 year-old’s current contract with the WWE ends in March and UFC president Dana White has dropped hints in recent times that a deal could be done, stating at a press conference in November that, “We have a great relationship with him. He’s healthy, and he’s said that he’s interested in fighting again. We’ll see what happens.”
However, if a deal is now in the works White is now keeping his cards close to his chest as MMAJunkie.com reports that he claims he hasn’t spoken to him.
During his first run in the UFC Lesnar was a massive draw for the promotion, breaching the 1 million pay-per-view sales barrier on four occassions as he won the heavyweight title and successfully defended it twice.
Having said that, by the end of his first run in the promotion both Lesnar’s fearsome reputation and drawing power were dwindling.
A battle with the diverticulitis disease eventually kept him out of action for over a year, while Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem both TKO’d him inside of a round, paving the way for his decision to retire from the sport and eventual return to pro-wrestling.
That last fight with Overeem in December of 2011 resulted in the lowest PPV audience of his seven outings in the promotion at 535,000 buys.
Time heals all wounds though and with Lesnar now several years removed from his struggle with Diverticulitis, the UFC lacking genuine star power and their heavyweight division having stagnated, now would be as good a time as any for him to make his return.
It would be wise to proceed with caution here though as Lesnar is an intensely private individual who dances to the beat of his own drum, so it’s difficult for anyone to predict with any certainty what he will decide to do next.
