As noted, it was announced on WWE Raw this week that should Brock Lesnar lose the Universal Title at WWE SummerSlam, both Lesnar and Paul Heyman would leave WWE. The announcement lead to much speculation that Lesnar would be dropping the title at the PPV this month in order to take time off WWE for a UFC fight against Jon Jones. Furthermore, it was reported by Sports Illustrated this week that Paul Heyman is pushing, behind-the-scenes, for Samoa Joe to win the Universal Title at SummerSlam so Lesnar can take the time off he would need to ready himself for a UFC fight.
However, it appears Lesnar dropping the title at SummerSlam is far from a lock at this point.
While the likelihood of a fight between The Beast and Bones is high, the question of when the bout could take place is the most present. As of this writing, Brock Lesnar has not reentered the USADA drug testing pool, and furthermore has 5 months left on his UFC suspension which commenced back in July of 2016. This means that if and when Lesnar does officially reenter the drug testing pool, the rest of the 5 month suspension would kick in, and he would have to wait that out before he can fight.
Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Radio, via Dave Meltzer, that because Lesnar has yet to enter the USADA drug testing pool, the earliest he could fight is in January of 2018, however, because Lesnar is under contract to WWE until WrestleMania 34, a UFC fight could interfere with The Royal Rumble PPV and the build to WrestleMania, something WWE will likely not allow Lesnar to miss. As noted, the plan as of earlier this summer was to have Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns headline WrestleMania 34, and if the Universal Title is on the line, more than usual PPV build would likely be necessary. It’s always possible, albeit unlikely, that Lesnar could have the Jones fight in January, miss the Royal Rumble and the start of the Road to WrestleMania, and return to WWE sometime in February/March to begin his ‘Mania feud.
As a result of the above, Dave Meltzer speculated it’s very likely the Brock Lesnar vs Jon Jones fight will not take place earlier than the Spring or Summer of 2018.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
