Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier plans to retire by March 2019 and has already pencilled in his final fights which are title defenses against Corey Anderson at 205 pounds and then World Wrestling Entertainment superstar and former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at heavyweight.
On Tuesday, Cormier accepted the invitation of Anderson, who reached out to him on Twitter about a potential title shot before the champ retires. That fight will potentially happen first due to the fact that Lesnar only entered the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool in early July and is required to be in it for six months before he can compete.
Ok , sure just find out when and where. I’ll be there. I always am!
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) July 24, 2018
“DC” made a recent appearance on the Slip n’ Dip podcast and explained the amount of testing the USADA will put Lesnar through. Cormier also expressed his hope that Lesnar will pass the regimen of testing and be ready to go come early next year.
“Well I think he had a USADA exemption or something, I’m not exactly sure, but now he’s having to be tested like every other athlete,” Cormier said. “He’s got to be tested for six straight months and trust me, they will test you. I’ve been tested 32 times [since] USADA came on board, 32 times, so he’s going to get tested. If he’s clean for six months then obviously he’s not doing steroids so let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
Lesnar last fought inside the Octagon in July 2016 at UFC 200, winning by unanimous decision against Mark Hunt. Days later it was revealed that Lesnar had tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene in a pre-fight drug test. As a result of Lesnar’s positive test, the result of the fight was changed to a no-contest and the former UFC heavyweight champion was suspended for one year.