The UFC owes the WWE a huge favor over Brock Lesnar.
"The Beast" is set to return to the Octagon at UFC 200 this Saturday in Las Vegas for a bout with Mark Hunt.
The spectacle was supposed to be placed in the middle of a stacked card, but with the main event for the milestone pay-per-view thrown out for a second time, Lesnar-Hunt is now prepared to headline the show.
The initial main event for this pay-per-view was to see Conor McGregor take on Nate Diaz, but the fight was thrown out after the former refused to promote it, leading to a dispute between him and UFC president Dana White.
After that, a highly-anticipated fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier was set in its place, but a mere three days before the fight, it had to be scrapped.
Jones, the interim UFC light heavyweight champion, was pulled from his title unification bout with Cormier after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency informed him of a potential doping violation on Wednesday, according to ESPN.
White held a press conference at MGM Grand on Wednesday to reveal the news and it was reported that Jones failed a test for a banned substance from a sample that was taken June 16. The promoter that he is, White downplayed losing the fight due to the other bouts on the card.
"When you have the biggest, baddest fight card ever assembled, you know, it doesn't sting as bad when you lose a fight," White said via ESPN. "But it stings real bad for Daniel Cormier. This is devastating to him, his family, and I'd like for him to fight another guy."
White and the UFC have to be thanking their lucky stars that they entered into a cross-promotion with the WWE to bring Lesnar back for another fight because now they're relying on that bout to almost single-handedly sell this major event for the promotion.
Lesnar, a former UFC heavyweight champion, will fight for the first time since 2011, when he seemingly retired due to a bout with diverticulitis.
"The Beast" has been a part-time star with the WWE since returning for his second stint with the company in 2012 and the WWE hopes to use the UFC exposure to promote its SummerSlam event featuring him on Aug. 21.
Earlier this week, Lesnar predicted victory for himself over Hunt.
"The guys that sit in this chair and can give predictions on what they're gonna do and how they're gonna do it, to me they're just blowing smoke," Lesnar told Paul Heyman in a 'Fight Week' interview. "My prediction is, in my heart and my true honest feelings, I'm just going to win. How that happens? I have no idea. I feel well prepared, I'm excited, I'm calm... before the storm, and there will be a storm."
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