Velasquez Retires From UFC, Rematches Lesnar In WWE

WWE

Move over Ronda Rousey, there’s another former UFC champion headed to WWE.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, has retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) and withdrawn his name from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool, according to ESPN, which is about as final as it gets when it comes to calling it quits.

That won’t keep him from rematching Brock Lesnar, who got torched by Velasquez in the UFC 121 main event back in summer 2010. Their second go-round will take place under professional wrestling rules as the main event of the next World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) pay-per-view (PPV) event, “Crown Jewel” on Oct. 31.

“I know Brock is big. He’s the biggest. But he ain’t the baddest,” Velasquez said during today’s press conference. “I beat him once before in UFC and I’m ready to do it again.”

Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 but took a one-off fight against Mark Hunt in summer 2016, where his unanimous decision win was overturned by way of failed drug test. There was talk of yet another “one-and-done” fight against Daniel Cormier just last year, but the deal never materialized.

Probably because of this.

The oft-injured Velasquez, 37, struggled to stay active in the final years of his cage-fighting career, competing just three times over the last six years. Sandwiched around a win over Travis Browne, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product was finished by both Fabricio Werdum (submission) and Francis Ngannou (knockout).

“Crown Jewel” will stream live on the WWE app.