Brock Lesnar WWE Return: When Will The Former Champ Wrestle After UFC 200?

Brock Lesnar is set to make his return to mixed martial arts, but it won’t be long before he has another professional wrestling match. Shortly after it was announced that the former heavyweight champion would compete at UFC 200, WWE made it clear that Lesnar would be back in the squared circle sooner rather than later.

Lesnar will fight an opponent that’s to be determined at UFC’s July 9 pay-per-view in Las Vegas. Six weeks later, Lesnar will highlight WWE’s SummerSlam card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

"Brock Lesnar remains under contract to WWE, however, he has been granted a one-off opportunity to compete at UFC 200,” WWE said in a statement on Saturday night. “Following this milestone event on July 9, Brock will return to WWE for SummerSlam on Sunday, August 21, live on WWE Network."

In late 2014 and early 2015, with his contract coming up, there were rumors that Lesnar would leave WWE for UFC, where he fought from 2008-2011 and became UFC’s biggest all-time draw. He signed a multi-year contract to remain with WWE shortly before WrestleMania 31 in March of last year, but WWE is allowing him to return to the octagon for one more fight.

Lesnar has worked as a part-time performer in WWE since 2012, and he hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since his WrestleMania 32 match against Dean Ambrose on April 3. Along with John Cena, he’s WWE’s biggest star, and he’s headlined SummerSlam in each of the last two years, facing Cena in 2014 and The Undertaker in 2015. Lesnar won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2014 and held the company's top title for over seven months.

Lesnar was in the main event of UFC 100, defeating Frank Mir in the company's highest-selling PPV of all time. His last UFC fight came on Dec. 30, 2011 against Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.

There’s been much speculation that as part of WWE’s agreement to allow Lesnar to fight in UFC, one UFC fighter, possibly Ronda Rousey, will be allowed to have a match at WrestleMania. Rousey appeared in a segment with The Rock, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H at WrestleMania 31.