Lesner has been with WWE since '12 and is set to headline the main event Sunday night at WrestleManiaGETTY IMAGES
UFC President Dana White has confirmed that Brock Lesnar will be "coming back" to the promotion. White made the announcement on FS1's "UFC Tonight," though he did not have a specific time for Lesnar's return. The former UFC heavyweight champ has been with WWE since '12 and is set to headline the main event Sunday night at WrestleMania 34. UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier noted it will be “money night when Brock Lesnar comes back” and fights on a UFC card and said he was “excited" about Lesnar's latest return to the UFC (“UFC Tonight,” FS1, 4/4). In DC, Des Bieler notes Lesnar has not fought in the UFC since July '16, when he "defeated Mark Hunt but later failed a pair of drug tests." That resulted in a year-long suspension from both USADA and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and Lesnar "presumably would have to serve the remainder of his suspensions before being cleared to compete again for the UFC." Lesnar's "recent flirtations with White have been viewed by some as simply attempts to gain leverage" with WWE. Lesnar historically has been a "major box-office draw" for the UFC, and with Ronda Rousey leaving for WWE, Jon Jones' inability to stay clean and Conor McGregor’s "lengthy absence, the UFC has lacked major star power over the past year and a half or so" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 4/5).
ALOHA MEANS GOODBYE: In Honolulu, Billy Hull reports the Hawaii Tourism Authority has "turned down" UFC's $6M asking price to bring a card to Aloha Stadium this summer featuring local native Max Holloway. White last night indicated that the UFC has "no intention of holding a card in Hawaii 'anytime soon.'" The $6M proposal "would have been the most ever paid to bring a sports event to Hawaii." Holloway has "asked White and the UFC for more than a year to bring a card to Hawaii, and discussions about a proposed Aug. 4 event picked up steam on Jan. 23 when a five-member delegation representing the HTA and Aloha Stadium met with UFC officials at the group’s Las Vegas headquarters." The HTA said that the $1M it "offered the UFC still would have been 'the largest fee paid by the HTA for any single sports event in 2018'" (Honolulu STAR-ADVERTISER, 4/5).
