Not many people expected Brock Lesnar to defeat Mark Hunt at last Saturday's UFC 200. The current WWE star hadn't fought in the UFC in more than four-and-half years when he lost in the first round to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December 2011.
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Bovada released odds of whether Lesnar will compete inside the octagon this year — odds that came out before the news Friday evening that Lesnar might be guilty of a doping violation. Here's how the odds looked prior to that development:
Yes: +140 (7/5)
No: -200 (1/2)
Lesnar seemingly proved why some consider him the greatest combat sports athlete of all-time when he defeated Hunt by unanimous decision. That comes into question if the doping violation sticks. Immediately after his win vs. Hunt, the questions arose: Would Lesnar fight again? There was speculation that he would fight the winner of the UFC 203 heavyweight title fight between champion Stipe Miocic and Overeem. Lesnar was non-committa at the UFC 200 post-fight press conference.
Considering Lesnar made a disclosed $2.5 million for UFC 200 and he gets a cut of the pay-per-view, he could exceed $8 million for 15 minutes of work. That is more money than Lesnar made in last year in WWE, making a reported $6 million. It would make sense for him to fight again in 2016 ... if he's going to be allowed back in the Octagon.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, The Fight Club Chicago, and subscribe on iTunes. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
