5 UFC fighters who would beat Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is coming back to the UFC, and while the majority of fans seem excited for his return, outside of Daniel Cormier – who’s likely in for the biggest payout of his career when he defends the UFC Heavyweight title against ‘The Beast Incarnate’ – it doesn’t seem that a lot of the other UFC fighters are too enthused.

Lesnar has recently come under fire from the likes of Stipe Miocic and Luke Rockhold, and while it makes financial sense to have the WWE Universal champ challenge Cormier, it doesn’t make much sense from a sporting perspective given Brock has only had one fight since 2011.

The truth is that he’s likely to be beaten down by Cormier, and if we’re honest there are probably more active fighters currently on the UFC roster who could beat him too. Here are 5 of them.

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#1 Curtis Blaydes

Curtis Blaydes has all the physical tools to take out Lesnar

If any fighter has a right to feel aggrieved at Lesnar being granted what’s essentially a free shot at the Heavyweight title, it’s Curtis Blaydes. ‘Razor’ is unbeaten in UFC action since his late-notice debut fight with Francis Ngannou in 2016, and 2018 has seen him pick up his biggest wins to date, over former title challengers Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem.

At just 27, Blaydes is still relatively young for a heavyweight, but he’s essentially got all of the tools to beat anyone in the division – including Lesnar. At 6’4” and 254lbs he’s got a huge frame, and he’s made the most of it in the majority of his UFC outings, showing freakish strength in his fights with Hunt and Adam Milstead in particular.

He’s got a powerful wrestling background – he won the NJCAA National Championship as a redshirt sophomore – and his striking has now developed too to the point where he was able to badly hurt Overeem standing. If he were to fight Lesnar, all he’d need to do would be to either hurt Brock standing, or put him on his back – which he’s capable of doing – and the outcome would likely end violently in the favour of Blaydes.

#2 Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem stopped Lesnar in 2011 and could definitely do it again

Okay, so Alistair Overeem is no longer quite as physically imposing as he was in his ‘Ubereem’ days – the height of which saw him destroy Lesnar inside a round at UFC 141 – but the Dutch kickboxing champion still represents a horrible stylistic match for the WWE superstar. Overeem is currently on a two-fight skid, having been stopped by up-and-comers Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes, but he’s the type of veteran that just can’t be counted out of any fight.

If anything, Overeem is a more nuanced striker today than he was when he first fought Lesnar – due to some deterioration in his chin, he’s become more of a precision hitter who moves in and out than the straight-forward bulldozer he once was, and that would make him even more of a bad match for Lesnar. Essentially, Lesnar’s only weapon against Overeem would be a blast double leg, and that doesn’t work unless you’ve got the striking to set it up.

The last time they fought, Overeem simply destroyed Lesnar with an assault of knees and kicks to the body, and there’s just no reason to suggest he wouldn’t be able to do that if they fought again. Perhaps Lesnar might be able to catch him with a big shot in a rush, but realistically he’s just not a good enough striker to hang with Overeem – who can also grapple well too.

#3 Stipe Miocic

Stipe Miocic represents a nightmare match for Lesnar

His recent loss to Daniel Cormier notwithstanding, former UFC Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic represents the closest fighter the UFC has to Cain Velasquez in his prime – a powerful wrestler with equally heavy hands and a gas tank that seems to last for days. Cormier beat him by surprising him with heavy shots from inside the clinch, but before that, Miocic was looking as good as any Heavyweight had done in UFC history.

If Miocic and Lesnar were to clash inside the Octagon, the smart money would be on Miocic every time. We saw in Lesnar’s fight with Velasquez in 2010 that he has very little answer to someone who’s capable of either stopping his takedown or getting up from underneath him, and Miocic’s takedown defense currently stands at an impressive 75% of takedowns avoided.

On the feet, it’s simply a no-contest. Miocic has stood toe-to-toe with – and defeated – strikers as good as Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski, while Lesnar’s record against heavy hitters like Velasquez and Overeem leaves a lot to be desired. This fight would likely be a re-run of Lesnar’s one-sided loss to Velasquez – ending with the WWE champion on the wrong end of a TKO.

#4 Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum tapped out Cain Velasquez, and he could do the same to Lesnar

The last time Lesnar fought a submission specialist – Frank Mir back at UFC 200 in 2009 – he smashed him to pieces from the half-guard, trapping Mir’s arm to deliver some hellacious punches that left the former champion a bloody, barely-conscious mess. The win still remains probably the highest point of Lesnar’s MMA career. A one-dimensional submission fighter would always be in trouble with someone as powerful as Brock, but Fabricio Werdum is no normal submission fighter.

Not only is Werdum one of the most decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts to ever set foot inside the Octagon, with tapout wins over legends like Fedor Emelianenko, Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem to back that up, but he’s also developed his striking to the point where he can basically stand with anyone in the division. The fact that Werdum has a knockout win over Mark Hunt should tell you how dangerous he is on the feet.

Werdum might’ve slowed down a little since losing the Heavyweight title in 2016, but he’s still arguably in his physical prime more than the 40-year old Lesnar is, and if they fought, it’d largely be a case of how would Brock manage to win? He wouldn’t be capable of outstriking a dangerous Muay Thai artist like Werdum and if he were to put the Brazilian on his back, it’s almost laughable to think that he’d be given the same opportunities for ground-and-pound that Mir handed him. Werdum would likely win this fight – and it’d likely be a finish, too.

#5 Alexander Gustafsson

A bulked-up Alexander Gustafsson would mean big trouble for Lesnar if they were to fight

Admittedly, there’s no denying that Lesnar would have a huge size advantage in this hypothetical match-up. Swedish superstar Alexander Gustafsson has never fought at Heavyweight in the UFC before, and while he does have the frame of a decently-sized Heavyweight – he stands at 6’5” and has a long 79” reach – even if he were to bulk to ‘Ubereem’ portions he’d still be giving up some power to the gigantic Lesnar – who has to cut weight to make the 265lbs divisional limit.

But would that really matter? I don’t think it would. Gustafsson is simply one of the most dangerous fighters in the UFC right now, capable of finishing a fight from any position. He hits phenomenally hard, and has stunned or knocked down basically every opponent he’s faced in the Octagon – including Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier – and his wrestling has improved to the point where his takedown defense stands at a massively impressive 88%.

What’s more, Gustafsson is perhaps the most ruthless finisher that the 205lbs division has seen since Chuck Liddell in his prime. If ‘The Mauler’ has his opponent hurt, 9 times out of 10 that opponent is about to be finished. Just ask Glover Teixeira, Jimi Manuwa or Matt Hamill about that. Shane Carwin infamously failed to finish Lesnar when he had him badly hurt back in 2010 – if they were to fight, Gustafsson certainly wouldn’t make that same mistake.