Brock Lesnar informs Dana White he is retiring from MMA, which presumably frees him up to be more active in WWE if deal can be reached

Brock Lesnar won’t be making another MMA comeback, freeing him up to work an uninterrupted WWE schedule if the two sides can reach agreement, assuming they haven’t already. As first reported by ESPN, Dana White said Lesnar informed him “he’s done, he’s retired.”

Lesnar was looking at a UFC Hvt. Title fight against Daniel Cormier, but that’s not going to happen. Instead, he’s expected to be part of the next in WWE’s controversial series of live events in Saudi Arabia paid for by the Saudi government this summer where top wrestlers are known to receive out-of-proportion “hard to turn down” paydays, including enough to lure Shawn Michaels out of retirement for the second Saudi show after turning down a presumably smaller offer for the first show.

If Lesnar doesn’t return to UFC, it frees up his schedule to be available to WWE at Summerslam or perhaps for the Smackdown debut on Fox broadcast network this fall. With sinking ratings at a steeper pace than any time in recent years, Lesnar gains leverage and becomes more important than he would be if ratings were holding steady without him.