Former UFC champion and current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar has elected not to return to mixed martial arts after all.
UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Tuesday that Lesnar (5-3) informed him he does not intend to fight again. The UFC had discussed booking a heavyweight title fight between Lesnar and defending champion Daniel Cormier this summer, but Lesnar ultimately informed White last week he is retired.
“He told me he’s done, he’s retired,” White told ESPN. “We’re going to move in another direction with Cormier.”
White said the new plan is to book a rematch between Cormier (22-1) and former champion Stipe Miocic (18-3), who previously met at UFC 226 in July 2018. Cormier claimed the heavyweight belt by knocking out Miocic in the first round.
Lesnar was in attendance at UFC 226 and even confronted Cormier in the Octagon immediately after the knockout victory. White has said in multiple interviews since then that he wanted to make the fight if he could strike a deal with Lesnar.
Lesnar had also entered the UFC’s mandatory anti-doping program in anticipation of a comeback.
Earlier this month, Lesnar was a keynote speaker at the Assiniboia Sports Celebrity Dinner & Auction in Saskatchewan and told the crowd that he still had not decided whether to accept the fight with Cormier.
Lesnar, 41, hasn’t fought since UFC 200 in July 2016 when he defeated Mark Hunt via unanimous decision. The fight was later overturned to a no contest after Lesnar failed two drug tests surrounding the fight for the banned substance clomiphene.
Cormier, 40, initially planned to retire from MMA this month but has since postponed that decision. He and Miocic have gone back and forth several times on social media, as Miocic has accused him of avoiding a rematch.
Before losing the belt to Cormier, Miocic, 36, defended the title a UFC-record three consecutive times.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani contributed to this report.
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