Daniel Cormier thinks Brock Lesnar was smart to avoid a certain beating from him in the UFC by remaining in the world of professional wrestling.
Lesnar, a former UFC heavyweight champion who initially rose to prominence in the WWE, made his final appearance inside the Octagon in 2016, returning at UFC 200 for his first fight in five years.
After Lesnar’s win over Mark Hunt was overturned to a no contest due to a failed drug test, talk of another comeback was sparked in 2018 when he appeared at UFC 226.
Following Cormier’s title-winning performance over Stipe Miocic in the main event, ‘The Beast Incarnate’ entered the cage. Cormier and Lesnar faced off, culminating in the latter shoving the newly crowned heavyweight king.
While that heated moment looked to have set the stage for a future showdown and was followed by Lesnar making steps to return to USADA’s drug-testing pool, the pro wrestler instead put pen to paper on a new deal with WWE.
Daniel Cormier says Brock Lesnar’s UFC comeback would not have gone well
During an interview with Demetrious Johnson on his MightyCast podcast earlier in July, Cormier reflected on his in-cage altercation with Lesnar at UFC 226 and the ultimate collapse of their planned fight.
‘DC’ acknowledged that Lesnar made the smart choice staying in WWE, where he was able to earn huge paychecks without the risk of getting ‘killed’ in a real fight by the former two-division UFC champion.
“Brock played us, man,” Cormier said. “Brock came with the idea that — he always has an open door because he’s such a big star.
“Brock actually came and then the WWE paid him more to stay. They paid him more. We danced the dance for a while. It could have been Brock and I when I fought Derrick Lewis in New York.
“But they paid him so much to stay,” Cormier continued. “He was such a big star there that he could make money to go do that and do nothing with suplexes or go fight me in the Octagon, and I’mma try to kill him.
“Yeah, he made the best choice.”
Brock Lesnar’s daughter tipped to follow in his UFC footsteps
Brock is far from the only sporting powerhouse in the Lesnar family, as his daughter, Mya, is also making a name for herself in the track and field realm. She was last year’s NCAA indoor shot put champion and won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
While her combat sports experience is limited, Mya was recently called out by the daughter of Lesnar’s greatest UFC rival. ‘The Beast Incarnate’ went 1-1 across two fights against Frank Mir, whose daughter Bella became the first to get an NIL deal by UFC in 2023.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Bella discussed her blossoming MMA career and the possibility of sharing the cage with Mya Lesnar down the line.
“It’s funny you say that about Mya Lesnar, the amount of people that have asked me if I want to fight her and do the Brock Lesnar-Frank Mir trilogy but in daughter form,” Bella said.
“I know Dana (White) would 100% approve of that if Mya was fighting.
“So Mya Lesnar, if you’re ever hearing this, you should train and we could just have a little fight. Because that would be awesome,” she continued. “She’s athletic; she’ll get it down. She trains for a year? That would be insane. Honestly.”