UFC: Is A Lesnar-Jones Fight Likely?

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones called out Brock Lesnar after defeating Daniel Cormier at UFC 214. Lesnar, 40, is a former UFC heavyweight champion and is currently under contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Lesnar responded to Jones by saying “Be careful what you wish for, young man.” This response has the MMA world buzzing, but how realistic is a future fight between these two?

Lesnar’s Suspension:

Lesnar last fought in UFC on July 9, 2016 against Mark Hunt, winning by unanimous decision. In December, he was handed a one-year suspension for failing two drug tests related to the fight. He was also fined $250,000 to go along with the suspension. The suspension was retroactive to July.

In February this year, Lesnar announced that he would be retiring, ending his MMA career. When he made this announcement, it effectively ended the suspension at seven months. Now that he is coming out of retirement, the suspension is coming with him.

Lesnar has not officially announced that he is coming out of retirement, but his response to Jones is a strong indication that it could be coming soon. When that announcement comes, Lesnar will have to serve the last five months of his suspension. Even if Lesnar could fight this year, realistically a matchup was not going to happen regardless. This is mostly due to an even bigger hurdle these two will have to leap.

Lesnar’s WWE Contract:

As previously mentioned, Lesnar is currently under contract with WWE. His contract runs through the company’s Wrestlemania event next year, which takes place on April 8. He is the company’s Universal Champion and possibly the biggest draw of any superstar. There is no way WWE would let their top guy compete against someone the caliber of Jones and risk injury.

According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, Lesnar will “100 percent” compete at Wrestlemania. A fight against someone as dangerous as Jones would only put the biggest show of the year at risk. It would not be impossible for them to fight before April. Lesnar’s fight against Hunt came while he was still under contract with WWE, but the magnitude of a fight with Jones would make it much more difficult to pull off.

Size Difference:

Jones’s victory over Cormier was in the light heavyweight division, meaning both mean weighed approximately 205 pounds. Lesnar has only ever fought at heavyweight, or 265 pounds, in his career. Fight weight and actual body weight are two very different things, though. While he fights at 205, Jones usually weighs around 220-230 pounds in his “offseason."

WWE does not have weight classes, so Lesnar has not needed to keep his weight down. With that said, he usually keeps his weight anywhere from 280-295. Lesnar would never be able to drop enough weight to fight at light heavyweight, so realistically this fight will happen at heavyweight. Even after cutting to make weight, Lesnar will still have a clear size advantage.

Jones would need to bulk up quite a bit to even the odds. With that said, the fight will not happen until he does not have size working against him. Taking these factors into consideration, a fight is still likely. It will probably happen later as opposed to sooner, though.

Photo Credit: UFC.com.