Dana White: Suspended Brock Lesnar Can't Fight Daniel Cormier Until January
July 8, 2018
UFC chief Dana White has said any showdown between Daniel Cormier and Brock Lesnar will have to wait until 2019, as the latter is serving a suspension until January.
Cormier made history on Saturday at UFC 226, knocking out UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to add that title to his UFC light heavyweight belt. Immediately afterward, Cormier was confronted by Lesnar inside the Octagon.
While it's a potential showdown that has plenty talking, White said fans will have to be patient with this one, per Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting:
Lesnar watched the show as part of the audience and made it clear he is keen to square off against Cormier in the coming months. He was also critical of the standard of heavyweight fighting on the card.
"Let me tell you something, I walked into this building and watched a heavyweight disaster from the beginning," he said, per Arash Markazi of ESPN.com. "[Francis] Ngannou is a piece of s--t. Miocic is a piece of s--t. DC, I'm coming for you motherf--ker."
Per Ariel Helwani of ESPN, Cormier said it's a fight he would like, and Lesnar responded in turn:
As reported by Raimondi, Lesnar is back in the USADA drug-testing pool, although he still has around six months left to serve from a previous suspension. Lesnar is also still involved in WWE, where he holds the Universal Championship belt.
Cormier became only the second fighter in the history of the UFC to hold two belts at the same time with his victory on Saturday, matching the achievement of former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Despite going into the fight as an underdog, Cormier landed a big right hand on Miocic early on to finish the contest. As noted by Chuck Mindenhall, having lost to longstanding rival Jon Jones a year ago, the 39-year-old has done well to battle back to the top of the sport:
Lesnar was last in action in professional MMA at UFC 200 in July 2016, when he faced Mark Hunt. Despite a win on the night for Lesnar, the fight was later deemed a no-contest after Lesnar tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene.
The 40-year-old does have immense pedigree in the UFC, though, as he won the heavyweight title from Randy Couture in 2008 before going on to defend it against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. Prior to his showdown with Hunt, Lesnar suffered back-to-back losses against Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem.