When the UFC announced Brock Lesnar’s return to the Octagon following Daniel Cormier’s win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, it completely changed the landscape of the UFC heavyweight division. At the time, Lesnar was nowhere near the title picture since he hasn’t fought in the Octagon since a 2016 No Contest with Mark Hunt at UFC 200 and technically doesn’t have a win since a 2010 submission victory over Shane Carwin at UFC 116. But the UFC is all about the biggest-money fights at this point, and as soon as you heard Lesnar was returning, you knew he would be getting an immediate title shot even though he doesn’t deserve it at all based on merit. He’s getting the title shot against Cormier because he’s the biggest name and the biggest draw. That’s all fine and dandy for Lesnar and Cormier, who will be competing in what is essentially a superfight, and of course it’s great for the UFC, who will be raking in the money. But it’s bad for the other top title contenders in the UFC heavyweight division as they will have to keep winning fights against tough competition in order to stay relevant while Lesnar makes his return.
The first domino to drop came last week when the UFC announced Alexander Volkov would be fighting Derrick Lewis in the co-main event of UFC 229. Volkov is coming off of a knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum and overall is 4-0 in the UFC. He has looked extremely impressive since leaving Bellator in 2015 as he’s currently riding a six-fight win streak. The win over Werdum was by far the biggest victory of his career and it’s the kind of statement victory that should have earned him a title shot. In fact, Volkov was the official backup fighter for the Miocic and Cormier fight at UFC 226. But with Lesnar returning, Volkov will have to take another dangerous fight against Lewis and he’ll have to win just to keep relevant amongst the division’s other top heavyweights. And facing a guy like Lewis won’t be an easy fight at all.
Lewis is coming off of a terrible performance against Francis Ngannou at UFC 226, but on paper it was still a win for him over the No. 1 contender and it’s helped pushed Lewis in the top-five in the division. Since he has a win over Ngannnou now, no one forgets the fact he was knocked out by Mark Hunt just last summer. But at the same time, Lewis has won eight of his last nine fights, and overall he’s 11-3 in the UFC with nine knockout wins. On paper, that should be a good enough record to get him a title shot, but with so many other contenders waiting for their own shot while Lesnar comes in and gets his, Lewis is going to have to keep taking dangerous fights against guys like Volkov and win to keep relevant in the heavyweight title picture. And it’s possible that Lewis could even go out there and knock Volkov out and not get a title shot because there’s one more guy who should be fighting for the title right now but who isn’t, and that’s Curtis Blaydes.
As far as I’m concerned, Blaydes is the true No. 1 contender in the UFC heavyweight division after his last win, a destructive TKO win over Alistair Overeem at UFC 225. That pushed Blaydes’ UFC record to 6-1, 1 NC and the majority of his wins have come by knockout. What he did to Overeem was ridiculous and should have earned him a title shot, but with Lesnar coming back, Blaydes is choosing not to wait around and is instead going to keep fighting.
For his next fight, the UFC has booked him against Ngannou in a rematch that will serve as the main event of UFC Beijing in November. Ngannou was the first and only man to hand Blaydes a loss in the Octagon in his debut, but since then he has really improved his game. This time around, you’d have to favor Blaydes to win the rematch even though he got knocked out the first time these two met. But that’s the thing: he was knocked out the first time they fought, and I’m shocked the UFC would give Blaydes such a risky stay-busy fight against Ngannou. Even if Ngannou is coming off of a terrible fight with Lewis, he’s still a very dangerous fighter and it seems surprising the UFC matched these two up. If Blaydes was going to take another fight, it made more sense to match him up with Volkov as both men are fresh contenders in the heavyweight division. Instead, the UFC decided to make Volkov against Lewis and Blaydes vs. Ngannou. I get these guys need to stay busy, but I feel like the UFC could have worked the matchups out better.
Either way, the fact these men have to keep taking dangerous fights to stay busy while Lesnar figures out his USADA thing and fights Cormier doesn’t seem fair, but then again it’s a business. The UFC has made its decision that Lesnar’s return is worth risking potential losses to fresh contenders in Blaydes and Volkov. I understand it, though I’m not sure I agree with it.
In the coming months we will see if the UFC made the right call, but with the possibility of Lewis beating Volkov and Ngannou beating Blaydes, a rematch between those two doesn’t seem to appealing. However, it could happen, and ultimately it’s a risk the UFC feels is worth taking to get Lesnar that title shot. We’ll see now if Lesnar can even pass all of his USADA drug tests and make it to the fight, because if he doesn’t actually fight Cormier then this will all be for nothing. Credit to the other top heavyweight contenders for taking fights and staying active, but they are risking their careers and we’ll have to see how this all plays out in the coming months. It has the potential to really backfire.
Do you think Brock Lesnar’s return is worth it?
