Brock Lesnar's UFC return and imminent title shot create quite the moral dilemma
While it was an expected move by Dana White, the UFC president should be better than this
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4 min read
LAS VEGAS -- The questions were as inevitable as the shifty dodging by UFC president Dana White that followed them.
Former heayvweight champion Brock Lesnar walked into the Octagon on Saturday and symbolically accepted a title shot against new heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier by shoving him in the chest. The professional wrestling-inspired moment, which was apropos considering Lesnar is the current WWE universal champion, came just moments after Cormier knocked out heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 226.
Less than one hour later, inside the media tent adjacent to T-Mobile Arena, White sat down at the post-fight news conference with a grin so wide it nearly screamed WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross' famous catchphrase about business picking up.
"We are definitely going to make that fight," White excitedly told media members.
Then came the rightful questions about a word that doesn't often mix with fight promotion: ethics.
The 40-year-old Lesnar, who returned to the Octagon in 2016 following a five-year retirement and outpointed Mark Hunt at UFC 200, only to lose the victory weeks later following a failed steroid test, will essentially be rewarded for his actions with a title shot.
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Twice, White was asked about the kind of stench that such a decision creates and how quickly critics will rightfully be to sniff it out. Both times he deflected.
"People are going to criticize us no matter what we do," White said. "Brock came in and he popped for that thing but he beat Mark Hunt, who was one of the top guys and a former world champion, and it's a fight people want to see."
The fly in this ointment of morality is the latter. Without question, it's a fight people want to see. Consider me, a mixed martial arts and pro wrestling journalist, chief among that group. It's a can't-miss event that very well could prove to be the promotion's biggest card that hasn't included idle pay-per-view star Conor McGregor.
UFC's heavyweight division is painfully thin, and Saturday's co-main event, a sleep-inducing disaster between Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis, left no natural contender in waiting. Cormier-Lesnar is not only an incredibly fun idea, it's a fight most promoters would sell their soul in order to make.
And that's just what UFC will do, while also sending tone-deaf message to fighters and fans alike.
Not only did Lesnar embarrass both the sport and the promotion with his positive test two years ago -- the same week that he called Jon Jones' positive test days earlier "unprofessional" -- he never even attempted to provide an excuse (or hold an interview, for that matter).
Lesnar also must finish the time remaining on his USADA suspension, which froze when he retired in early 2017. White, when pressed late Saturday, revealed Lesnar reentered the testing pool last week, though the UFC president repeatedly came up empty when pressed for facts regarding his Lesnar's eligibility.
"The process has started," White said. "They started the process last week. I don't know how far they are in the process, but he's going to pop up on the board [on the USADA website] on Monday or Tuesday. I don't know where he is in the process. I have no idea.
"Don't quote me. [Jeff] Novitsky, [UFC vice president of athlete health and performance] is the guy to talk to, but I think [Lesnar has] six months remaining."
The moral dilemma of Lesnar shamelessly profiting from his own mistakes, and being enabled to do so, also extends to Cormier for willingly playing along. While very few could blame a deserving Cormier for chasing what's likely to be the largest payday of his career, DC's long stance against his bitter rival Jones for similar drug issues makes things murky.
Pressed to explain, just moments after Cormier said Jones doesn't deserve a shot to face him again, Cormier owned up.
"We are living in my world now, so I dictate the rules," Cormier said. "Plus, I really just don't like Jones."
Earlier, when pushed about how staged his pro wrestling melee with Lesnar inside the Octagon appeared and how it was received on social media, Cormier gave a similarly revealing response.
"Staged? We are idiots? Fine, stay broke," Cormier said. "You got a guy like Brock Lesnar in front of you and you won't fight him?"
Let's not feign innocence or stand for too long on a soap box so that we might miss what the end game is in the promotion of MMA. It will always be more about entertainment and counting gate receipts than competition and protecting whatever sanctity is left of things like divisional rankings. That ship has already sailed many times over in a sea of gluttonous interim belts, CM Punk fights and many other short-term, financially-fueled decisions.
But for UFC and White to turn a blind eye while seductively winking with the other in the face of Lesnar flying in to save the day like nothing has happened leaves an unavoidably sour aftertaste.
Just days after White declared publicly that McGregor, who is the only fighter in UFC history to best Lesnar's PPV buy records, won't face any further punishment for his dangerous and life-threatening acts at UFC 223, the news about Lesnar is par for the course.
Say what you will about the greatness of the sport for its technical gifts, but we are all just paying customers in White's circus tent.
