Brock Lesnar: 10 Potential Opponents For The Former UFC Heavyweight Champion
With each passing month the question for UFC President Dana White gets louder and louder: When is Brock Lesnar going to get back in the octagon and who will he fight?
The former UFC heavyweight champion has been M.I.A. ever since his defeat at the hands of Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October. He had a noteworthy staredown with his former colleague in the WWE, The Undertaker, after that fight. There were a ton of rumors floating around about that.
Was Brock going back to WWE? Was he going to headline their biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania?
Dana White squashed those rumors, saying that Brock has an exclusive contract with UFC and he will not be working for anyone else.
So that brings us back to the original question: Who is he going to fight next?
While we don't have the answer to that question yet, we can speculate on who would be the best choices to face Brock Lesnar.
Here are the top 10 opponents that Brock Lesnar could matchup with in his next UFC fight.
10. Ben Rothwell
1 of 10
This is a case of Brock fighting a guy that he could clearly beat. No disrespect meant to Rothwell, he is a quality fighter but he’s not in Brock’s league. By giving Rothwell a chance in a fight with a guy like Lesnar they could elevate him to a bigger position.
Of course on the chance that Lesnar would lose to Rothwell, his drawing power in UFC would likely evaporate. Rothwell could be used to get Lesnar back in the title picture, if UFC wants to do that.
9. Heath Herring
2 of 10
When Lesnar first fought Heath Herring the fight went to a decision, which is the only Lesnar fight that has gone to decision. Sure, the fight wasn’t particularly close but he hung in there for all three rounds.
Plus, Herring hasn’t fought in awhile due to injury and is primed and ready to make a comeback. He is a quality heavyweight fighter and has the ability to give Lesnar a good fight. Why not give him a chance?
8. Cheick Kongo
3 of 10
Brock Lesnar would likely want to get back in the octagon with a guy who is a standup specialist in order to improve his standup fighting game. Cheick Kongo would be a good place for Lesnar to start.
Kongo’s game is all about standup and striking people. If Lesnar wants to get better as a standup fighter, which was his biggest undoing against Cain, he needs to fight guys that are good at that style.
It’s doubtful that this fight will be happen because Kongo might not be enough of a name fighter for Lesnar. Plus, if Lesnar gets caught by Kongo that could really kill Lesnar’s drawing power.
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7. Mirko Cro Cop
4 of 10
A few years ago a Cro Cop-Lesnar fight would have been a major, major event. Mirko Cro Cop is not the fighter that he once was, which doesn’t take away from his legacy but does make it less likely that a fight with Brock Lesnar will happen.
It is an intriguing fight because Cro Cop does still have some of that knockout power left in him. If Cro Cop could keep up with Lesnar’s speed he could give him a really difficult fight.
6. Junior Dos Santos
5 of 10
Lesnar would have to be off for a very long time for this to be his next fight because dos Santos has to fight for the heavyweight championship in between. However, if he loses that fight against Cain Velasquez a fight with Lesnar could be in the works.
He has proven himself to be in the upper echelon of the UFC heavyweight division. He has beaten almost all of the other legit heavyweight fighters in UFC up to this point. So a match with Lesnar would be a next logical step, assuming that he doesn’t win the heavyweight title.
5. Cain Velasquez
6 of 10
This one is more likely to happen if and when both men win their next fight, Cain against Junior dos Santos (reportedly to take place at the Toronto show in April) and Brock against whomever he fights next.
However, if Cain defeats Junior dos Santos, where is UFC going to go after that?
Even if Brock hasn’t had a fight since UFC 121, they could be tempted to put him back in the octagon with Cain because there would be huge amounts of intrigue in the fight. I doubt that it would, or could, happen without Brock winning a fight in between but stranger things have happened.
4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7 of 10
An interesting fight could be between Lesnar and Minotauro Nogueira. Their styles are somewhat similar. Both men are better on the ground than they are standing up and they seem to match up pretty well against each other.
This is another case of does UFC want to subject Lesnar to the possibility of losing to a fighter who is thought to be past his prime? I don’t think that there would be anything wrong with this fight and it would be a great wrestling battle between these two men.
3. Shane Carwin
8 of 10
A rematch built around one of the most memorable fights of 2010 could be a good thing for both Carwin and Lesnar.
For Carwin, he has built a reputation on just beating guys right out of the gate and not having to maintain a high level of stamina. At UFC 116 against Brock, Carwin did what he does best and was beating on Brock right away. Unfortunately, Lesnar withstood the first round assault and Carwin was gassed after that.
For Lesnar, this was the fight that proved that he could take a punch. However, fans and analysts pointed out that if Lesnar was going up against a guy with even average cardio he would likely have lost.
So why not see if Lesnar’s win was more of a fluke or if he is just the better fighter?
2. Roy Nelson
9 of 10
This seems to be the “cult fight” that should be made. There are contingents of UFC fans that want to see Brock Lesnar take on Roy Nelson. It also helps that Nelson has said that he wants to fight Lesnar and will do almost anything to make that happen.
There are things working against the fight, mainly that Brock has nothing to gain from a fight with Roy Nelson. That’s the biggest issue that you will find with many of these fights. They have to make sense for both guys involved, if they don’t they likely won’t happen.
That said, Roy Nelson is a very entertaining personality and would promote the fight as well as anyone leading it to do some pretty big business. Whether that’s enough for UFC to make the fight in 2011, we shall see.
1. Frank Mir
10 of 10
This seems to be the fight that everyone believes will happen. In a number of ways it makes a lot of sense. The two have fought twice before, each winning once. Mir is coming off a win, albeit unimpressive, against Mirko Cro Cop. Both men have such big egos that they definitely want to have a third fight to determine who really is better.
This would probably be the best fight for Lesnar because he needs a fight against a quality heavyweight, which Mir still is. He wants a fight against a guy that he knows and believes that he can beat.
Plus, UFC wants to put Brock in the best possible position because that will be best for business. A Frank Mir-Brock Lesnar III event would likely be one of the biggest events, in terms of PPV buys, of 2011.
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