Brock Lesnar ruins UFC champion's coronation, issues challenge
The line between MMA and WWE is often blurred, with the genuine sport having drawn plenty of influences from its “sports entertainment” combat-sports cousin, and Brock Lesnar had that blurred line on full display Saturday.
The WWE Universal Champion got called out by Daniel Cormier at UFC 226, and now impresario Dana White is cranking the hype machine for a Cormier-Lesnar showdown.
Cormier had just defeated Stipe Miocic in the main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Said White, “We’re definitely going to make that fight. Lesnar hit me up a couple days ago and said, ‘Sorry I went dark on you, but I had some stuff I had to take care of, but I’m going to come to the fight this weekend.’ I said, ‘OK, see you Saturday.’ He came here tonight all fired up.”
Lesnar sat patiently in the front row like any fan who had paid for a ticket in order to watch the fight.
He, like the rest of the crowd, was treated to a monster KO by Cormier.
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Cormier danced with Miocic in the middle of the octagon, content to let things devolve into a boxing match. When Miocic overcommitted on an attack, Cormier got hold of him with his left arm and, unlike in boxing where you’re not allowed to hit a guy in a clinch like that, clocked him with his right hand, sending Miocic to ground. Cormier then got leverage on him in the ground-n-pound game, prompting the referee to stop things.
And with the belt around his waist, the time for sport was over and the time for a good old-fashioned WWE promo began.
Cormier first called out Lesnar, saying his tenure as UFC champion in 2010 was “back in the Stone Age” and getting into a shoving match with the wrestler.
“There’s a guy that I’ve known for a long time, he’s a wrestler, he’s an All-American, he’s a former UFC champion, I never thought I would fight him, but Brock Lesnar, get your a– in here,” Cormier said.
Lesnar’s reply? Well, to say it was salty is underselling the point, the same way it would be if you used that term to describe Lot’s wife. It was a 22-second string of profanity (NSFW, obviously).
White was delighted from the moment Lesnar arrived, knowing he was in for just as much great theater as the to-that-point oblivious audience.
“As soon as he came to my seat, he was acting like a lunatic,” White said. “He was fired up and excited for this fight. His gut told him Stipe was going to win because he felt Cormier put too much weight on for this fight and that was going to affect him, but it didn’t.”
White also knew when enough was enough.
“I told [Lesnar] to relax and calm down. We get it. There’s going to be a fight. Calm down,” White said. “They were both into it. DC pushed me up against the cage. I’m too old for this s—. You can’t be doing that to me. They were all fired up. Everyone in there was crazy.”
Although it wasn’t nearly as crazy as the fight will no doubt be when the time comes to throw down in the cage.
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