The Beast Returns to the Octagon

“Here comes the pain!” In what can easily be considered the most shocking moment in sports for the calendar year 2016, Brock Lesnar will be fighting inside the octagon at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest pay per view event since UFC 100. It was announced during Saturday’s UFC 199 that Brock Lesnar will be fighting for the UFC at UFC 200 on July 9th.

Despite details being leaked out earlier in the day by MMAfighting.com, I didn’t hear about the news until after it was announced by UFC. My iPhone sent me an alert with the news. When I first read it, I had to do a double take. No way I read that right. How in the world is Brock Lesnar fighting in the UFC, especially when the event is less than two months before the WWE’s biggest pay per view event of the summer? I immediately opened my laptop to see if this news was true, and to find out how did this happen.

THE DEAL

According to the rumors, Brock Lesnar’s original WWE contract when he came back the night after WrestleMania XXVIII included a clause where he could fight a UFC bout while being in the WWE. However, these same reports indicate that when he resigned prior to WrestleMania XXXI, that UFC clause was removed from his new contract. Apparently, during WrestleMania season earlier this year, Brock Lesnar informed the WWE that they are coming close got going over his scheduled number of agreed upon dates for the year. Instead of throwing more money at Lesnar, which was commonplace when this situation arose in the past, the WWE offered to grant him a one-time only UFC fight into the deal. However, according to Brock Lesnar, during his media rounds, the idea for Brock to fight again was his alone. He first called Dana White with the idea, and then went to Vince McMahon asking him about fighting at UFC 200. That’s when, as Lesnar stated, the billionaires discussed billion-dollar business.

Following the UFC’s removal of Conor McGregor from the UFC 200 card for failing to appear for a press conference and to film a commercial for the event, the once hyped “biggest UFC event of all-time” was starting to look like the show would be a letdown. There would be no Connor McGregor fight. Rhonda Rousey would not be facing the UFC Women’s champion at UFC 200 either. The company’s two biggest draws wouldn’t be fighting on the company’s biggest show since UFC 100. It was a big letdown.

Enter “The Beast.” When Brock Lesnar first worked for the UFC, he was MMA’s answer to Mike Tyson. He was by far the biggest pay per view draw that the UFC ever had up until that point in time. Despite having an “in their prime” Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre on their roster, Brock Lesnar was the cash cow that took the UFC to another level. With Brock fighting on the show, Dana White doesn’t have to worry about the buy rate for UFC 200 falling below expectations due to the exclusions of Connor McGregor and Rhonda Rousey not fighting that night. UFC 200 will draw a MONSTER buy rate, and will probably be the most watch MMA event in the history of the sport. The loaded card would have given UFC a nice buy rate. However, the inclusion of Brock Lesnar on the show will now give UFC the chance at garnering a historic buy rate number.

THE SMARTEST ATHLETE ON THE PLANET
In his heyday, the moniker of the “baddest man on the planet” belonged to “Iron” Mike Tyson. If Tyson was the “baddest man on the planet,” Brock Lesnar is certainly the smartest athlete on the planet. After finishing college, Brock Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation. His deal was a record contract for someone in the WWF’s developmental system, which at that time was housed in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

It’s well known that Brock Lesnar hated the travel that is associated with being a professional wrestler. After quitting the WWE, he eventually landed in the UFC to ply his trade in the field of MMA. After only three career MMA fights, Brock Lesnar found himself battling Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight championship. Brock was a ratings draw for the UFC. Due to his popularity and money making ability for the UFC, the WWE wanted Lesnar back in the fold. The WWE’s original plan for WrestleMania XXVII was to pit the UFC Champion Brock Lesnar with Dana White in his corner against the Undertaker with Vince McMahon in his corner. Despite the insane money that McMahon offered, Dana White would not allow it. However, within the next year, Brock Lesnar would retire from the UFC and return to the WWE.

When Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE, he had all of the leverage in negotiations. Not only was he able to get a multi-million dollar deal from McMahon, but he was able to get a schedule where he worked limited dates. A limited date schedule was virtually unheard of in the WWE. Sure, legends like the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had that kind of deal. However, for the huge money deal that the WWE was about to give Brock Lesnar, a limited dates schedule was unchartered territory for the company.

Of course, the WWE used up Brock’s dates rather quickly, so in order to have “The Beast” appear on the company’s biggest shows, they had to renegotiate with Lesnar, and pay him more money for every show that exceeded the number of dates on his contract. You would think that Brock Lesnar had a stack of uncompromising pictures of Vince McMahon and was blackmailing him with them. It seemed like every time that Brock Lesnar had the WWE over a barrel, instead of firing him like they did when the Ultimate Warrior demanded a higher compensation before SummerSlam 1991, the WWE caved into Lesnar each and every time.

Last year, when Brock Lesnar was going to visit the sickly Masa Saito in Japan. At the time of his visit, the WWE was going to have their yearly Japan tour. Brock Lesnar decided to inform the WWE that he would work one of the Japan dates. The main reason behind working the date was so the WWE would basically foot the bill for Brock Lesnar to go to Japan to visit Saito. That’s per genius when it comes to being frugal. He makes Mick Foley look like a spend thrift in comparison. I loved hearing that story when it first came out, and still love it as it shows how much he values the “it’s not how much you make, but how much you save” mantra that should be the golden rule for any professional athlete.

This leads us to the news of Brock Lesnar returning to UFC to fight Mark Hunt at UFC 200. As mentioned previously, if the rumors are true, due to the WWE once again using up the majority of his 2016 dates so quickly. Having the WWE allow him to work a UFC fight will bring him more money than if they just decided to throw more money per additional date that he worked for them this year. Brock Lesnar is probably making seven figures for the fight. Plus, he will have the opportunity to make more than his UFC guarantee based on if he wins any fight bonuses, and if he gets a percentage of the pay per view buys. I can’t think of any other athlete who works the system as great as Brock Lesnar does.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE WWE?
Allowing Brock Lesnar to fight on UFC 200 is actually a brilliant move by the WWE. The WWE will garner more free publicity over the next month than they would have ever gotten with their little weekly SportsCenter segments on ESPN. From now until fight night, ESPN, FOX, and several other sports and media outlets will be talking about WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar going back into the octagon. This is the kind of press/publicity that you can only buy if you spent over $3 million on a Super Bowl commercial. Instead, the WWE gets it for free.

The biggest negative that fans have been saying is “what if Brock Lesnar loses? It will kill his aura in the WWE!” I don’t believe that it will, especially if he loses a close fight. I think, in the end, it will be built up as a 39 years old man, that has been away from the sport for four years, displayed a great athletic ability in order to compete against someone who has been active in MMA for the last twelve years. I think it will show that he isn’t afraid to take on any challenge, and that wrestling fans will commend him for the effort.

Another aspect to the Brock Lesnar “one time only” deal that no one seems to be talking about is the fact that Dana White now owes the WWE a favor. Sure, Dana allowed Rousey to appear at WrestleMania XXXI. However, her appearing in a non-hyped angle, and her working a match are at two totally different ends of the spectrum. Brock Lesnar fighting at UFC 200 is a lot bigger than Rousey doing a three-minute storyline at WrestleMania. Perhaps now, Vince McMahon will be able to get Rousey or even Connor McGregor to participate in an actual match at WrestleMania.

HOW SHOULD THE WWE HANDLE BROCK WORKING UFC 200
According to the reports, the WWE will promote UFC 200 on their shows leading up to the event. However, the WWE should do more to capitalize on Lesnar’s upcoming fight. My brother came up with a great idea. During the Money in the Bank ladder match, Lesnar should run into the ring from the backstage area, destroy all six participants, grab the briefcase, and leave the ring. Then, during the main event WWE World title match, he will do what Seth Rollins did to him, and cash in the briefcase, and win the title. This would get the WWE belt on TV during all of Lesnar’s media appearances leading up to UFC 200. Plus, I’m sure McMahon and Brock could convince Dana White to allow him to take the belt with him on the way to the octagon. The only negative would be if Lesnar lost to Mark Hunt, because then the WWE Champion just got beat by a guy outside of the sports entertainment realm. However, I think that it’s a chance worth taking.

Of course, knowing the WWE’s way of thinking, they will do nothing with Lesnar. Then if Brock beats Mark Hunt, which will not be an easy task, they will have Lesnar job to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam to prove that Reigns is tougher than an MMA fighter. That would kill Lesnar’s WWE momentum more than if Brock loses to Mark Hunt.

Regardless of what happens, both in the WWE and at UFC 200, both companies have just gotten a lot more interesting. I can’t wait until July 9th when “The Beast” represents the WWE in his return to the octagon. I still can’t believe this is happening, as it seems like a dream. However, in one month, that dream becomes a reality.