UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier didn’t stutter when he called out former champion Brock Lesnar after UFC 226. “Push me now, you go to sleep later.” Cormier, who knocked out Stipe Miocic just minutes earlier to become only the second dual champion in UFC history along with Conor McGregor, called Lesnar in to the Octagon after he noticed him watching the UFC Heavyweight championship main event in Las Vegas. The sportsbooks reacted by posting the odds for a potential superfight between Cormier and Lesnar. It’s no surprise that Cormier is listed at the obvious sports betting favorite to win.
Cormier opened as a -220 favorite to win the potential superfight, according to the oddsmakers at BetDSI Sportsbook. Lesnar opened as a +150 underdog. While Lesnar is a former champion in his own right, the fact that he hasn’t competed at the highest level in mixed martial arts in more than two years is the biggest reason why he is listed as a substantial underdog for this matchup. Lesnar’s last UFC fight happened back in July of 2016. Even worse, his last UFC win was all the way back in July of 2010. The long layoff makes Lesnar a tremendous longshot against a dual champion performing at an elite level in the present in Cormier.
Lesnar debuted to immediate fanfare in 2008 when he shocked the world by beating Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight champion back at UFC 91 in 2008. He doubled down with another TKO win over Frank Mir at UFC 100, then submitted Shane Carwin at UFC 116 to retain his title in July of 2010. However, that victory marked a high point for Lesnar as his fourth straight UFC win and second consecutive successful title defense. In October of 2010, Lesnar suffered a TKO loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 to lose his title. Then he suffered another TKO loss in his next fight to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December of 2011. After five years away from the Octagon, Lesnar finally got back in the win column with a decision over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in July of 2016. However, that result was overturned after he tested positive for a banned substance. Now two years after that latest fight and eight years since his last UFC win, the 40-year-old Lesnar is looking for one last opportunity in the UFC.
The fact that it could would come against Cormier means the odds will be stacked even higher against Lesnar to win. Cormier is coming off back-to-back stoppage wins over Volkan Oezdemir and Stipe Miocic in which he successfully defended the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and then won the UFC Heavyweight championship in consecutive fights. Cormier is at the top of his game and has absolutely dominated over the last three years. That dominance should continue in a potential superfight versus Lesnar. While it would undoubtedly be a spectacle and it is true that anything can happen in any given fight, Cormier would be an obvious sports betting favorite to beat Lesnar in a potential UFC showdown.
