UFC 200: What happened when Brock Lesnar returned to the Octagon after a five-year absence?

UFC's historic UFC 200 pay per view event went through lots of line-up changes as it attempted to put on a marquee show.

The original plan had been for Ronda Rousey to headline the event, but given the devastating nature of her first MMA loss at UFC 193, she declined the offer.

Amanda Nunes eventually got the nod to face UFC Bantamweight Champion, Miesha Tate instead. The promotion had also wanted Conor McGregor but he too was coming off a major defeat, to Nate Diaz at UFC 196.

Days prior to the card, the Light-Heavyweight title clash between Daniel Cormier versus Jon Jones was devastated by the news that Jones had failed yet another drugs test. MMA legend, Anderson Silva took the bout on a day's notice.

Despite the chaos, UFC put on a great line-up due to two major players returning to the Octagon; Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar.

UFC shocked the world when it announced Lesnar would return for the show when he was in the middle of what was thought to be a binding WWE deal.

After five years away from the sport, would he have much left in the tank versus the legendary big hitter, Mark Hunt?

It turns out he did. Lesnar looked every bit as good as he did at his peak taking the massive Hunt down and working for a submission.

Lesnar's ground and pound work was a masterpiece as his short punches overwhelmed Hunt. Lesnar was unsurprisingly the winner via Unanimous Decision.

However, Lesnar would fail an out of competition and post-fight drugs test, meaning the result of the bout was overturned to a No Contest and he was slapped with a suspension, of which he is still serving time after it was paused when he removed himself from the USADA testing pool when he returned to WWE.

The Lesnar return, whilst no doubt a massive money spinner for UFC was a headache for the company and also too, for WWE, who was forced to admit that they did not drug test part-time talent, which Lesnar is. What a mess, in truth.

As for Velasquez; he found himself in the unfamiliar position of opening the event after a prolonged absence from the Octagon following his Heavyweight title loss to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188.

Cain Velasquez nails Travis Browne with a head kick

He smashed through Travis Browne with relative ease, knocking him out inside the first round. Velasquez looked like he was back. However, bone spurs have kept him out of the Octagon ever since. Some two and a half years and he is still on the shelf. Will we see Velasquez again in 2019?

With McGregor moving up in weight to fight Diaz at UFC 196, the promotion elected to make an Interim Featherweight Champion whilst the division waited for McGregor to return. In November 2018, at time of writing, it is still waiting.

So, Jose Aldo, the man McGregor defeated so handily at UFC 194, took on Frankie Edgar, in what was probably the most intriguing bout on the card. The fight went the full five round distance and Aldo dominated.

Aldo skilfully dodged all of Edgar's offence and turned away nearly all of Edgar's takedown attempts. It was an impressive defensive performance but Aldo dished plenty of strikes out too. Had this Aldo fought McGregor, then that bout at UFC 194 would likely have lasted longer than 13 seconds.

Daniel Cormier successfully turned back the challenge of Anderson Silva in a fight that was non-title. Silva, who had not been in training understandably gassed and did not look like he was in peak shape.

However, Cormier could only beat what was put in front of him and he kept Silva grounded where he was able to keep control over what, in truth was a tedious fight as a viewer.

Finally, the main event saw Miesha Tate defend the Bantamweight Championship versus Brazilian, Amanda Nunes.

Bantamweight Champion, Miesha Tate is shocked by Amanda Nunes in the UFC 200 headliner

The legendary Tate was heavily favoured to turn back the challenge of Nunes but came unstuck very quickly as the Brazilian kept popping right back up every time Tate took her down.

Stunned, Tate fell victim to a devastating combination which busted her face open. Another flurry put Tate down to the mat. She bounced back up, trying to prevent the finish, but was on the rack and Nunes sunk in a deep choke for the submission win.

The MMA world was shocked as Nunes was named the new Bantamweight Champion. After no title changes in well over two years with Rousey as champion, the belt changed hands three times in eight months.

For that reason, who did UFC book to face Nunes in her first title defence at UFC 207? The returning, Rousey.

UFC 200 had a chaotic build and the card had that feel to it as the show progressed. But, with a shocking title change and successful Octagon returns, at least on the night for Lesnar and Velasquez, it is a show that will not easily be forgotten.