Brock Lesnar to make MMA return at UFC 200 as WWE wrestler confirms return four years after last appearance

The UFC confirmed that former heavyweight world champion Brock Lesnar will return at UFC 200

Brock Lesnar will fight at UFC 200 (Getty)

In a surprising announcement at UFC 199 on Saturday night, the UFC announced that their biggest drawing pay-per-view star of all time Brock Lesnar was returning to fight at UFC 200.

Earlier on in the evening, Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting had reported that the UFC were in 'serious talks' with the former UFC heavyweight champion and WWE superstar and just before the co-main got underway the UFC confirmed it with this epic UFC 200 trailer.

Watch the video below...

Helwani also noted in his report that no opponent had been talked about or confirmed as of yet but it was later revealed by UFC commentator Mike Goldberg that Lesnar's opponent would be revealed live on ESPN Sports Centre on Monday.

Lesnar last competed back at UFC 141 where he took on Alistair Overeem and lost via TKO after being dropped by a brutal kick to the midsection and finished with strikes on the ground. It was widely known that Lesnar suffered from diverticulitis and that it massively impacted the latter stages of his MMA career bringing it to an abrupt end in 2012.

Since quitting MMA, Lesnar has been an active member of the WWE roster and competed back at WrestleMania in April where he defeated Dean Ambrose in a 'street fight'. Since then he is said to have been training for a return to MMA and has been off WWE television.

Although Lesnar has been plying his recent trade in professional wrestling, that's never stopped there being speculation of a UFC return and it's been reported several times previously that he was on the brink of making a return.

Lesnar first came close to re-signing in 2012 when UFC president Dana White claimed the organisation were close to booking a Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko at Cowboys Stadium. Unfortunately, the death of Fedor's father put an end to that happening as the Russian fell out of love with fighting and the bout never got signed.

The UFC were also reportedly in talks last year when Lesnar's WWE contract ended but even after making an appearance at UFC 191, Lesnar decided to stay in professional wrestling and re-signed with the WWE, saying afterwards that he never really got that close to inking a deal to return.

Lesnar returning now puts the UFC in with a big chance of out-drawing their biggest ever pay-per-view record, which is currently UFC 100 Lesnar vs Mir. That fight drew 1.6 million buys and was only recently put under threat by the Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz fight at UFC 196. which was reported to have drawn 1.5m.

With Lesnar returning and the UFC 200 card already featuring three title fights including Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier II, UFC 200 surely now has to be the strongest card ever in UFC history.