A few weeks ago it seemed all but certain that Brock Lesnar was going to fight Daniel Cormier in early 2019 for the UFC heavyweight championship (assuming Cormier beat Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 - which he did). But now that might not be such a sure bet. So, what's changed? A lot!
According to MMA Fighting, it all started when WWE Superstar Roman Reigns found out that his battle with Leukemia wasn't over and that the disease he fought 11 years ago was back. With that sad news, Reigns had to step away from the WWE soon after finally defeating Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
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The original plan had been for Lesnar to lose to Reigns and then leave the WWE. But with Reigns having to step away from the ring to fight a much more important battle, Vince McMahon had lost his top dog and didn't want to let Lesnar go just yet. This lead to McMahon secretly offering Lesnar a new deal to stick around and Brock getting that Universal Championship belt back around his waist — which he did at the Crown Jewel Pay-Per-View.
What is known about the new deal at this point isn't much. We don't know how long the deal is for, but we know that it is for multiple shows and that Lesnar is scheduled to at least April of 2019 - WrestleMania! So, what does this all mean for his potential fight with Cormier?
Well, his new deal with the WWE does allow him to fight in the UFC, but will he want to do that? We don't know. And as for the soon-to-be 40-year-old Cormier, he has already set his schedule for next year, saying that he wants to fight next March and that that fight will be his retirement fight.
Lesnar has fought in the UFC before while still working in the WWE so Cormier/Lesnar can definitely still happen. But assuming that Cormier does only have one fight left, we should know sooner than later if it is going to be against Brock Lesnar or someone else.