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What's next for Brock Lesnar in the UFC following his loss to Cain Velasquez?
MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
It's really up to Brock as far as what's next for him. The smart money is on a Shane Carwin-Brock Lesnar rematch when Lesnar's face (and ego) and Carwin's back heal. The winner of that fight could be matched up with the winner of Dos Santos-Velasquez next. If the UFC wants a guaranteed high profile win for Lesnar in his next fight to build him back up as a contender, a third fight with Frank Mir is always out there, but I think its more likely that Mir steps in for Carwin in the UFC 125 co-main event against Roy Nelson. But hey, if neither of those fights appeal to Lesnar, I hear he has a score to settle with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.
ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Well, hopefully Brock Lesnar can follow the footsteps of previous champions in the UFC, such as Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre, and come back better and more improved. Both fighters mentioned were able to do it when they faced setbacks (Hughes to B.J. Penn and GSP to Hughes), and take their respective belts back. Lesnar needs to go back and refocus and see what went wrong with his strategy (re: everything). As far as match-ups go, I'd say a rubber match with Frank Mir could be in order, or maybe a rising fighter in Brendan Schaub.
GRIFFIN MARSH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I see Brock (deservingly or not) fighting for the UFC heavyweight title VERY, VERY soon. He is a cash machine unlike any other fighter in all MMA and Dana White will do all he can to get the belt back to Lesnar.
ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir is the obvious match-up, and the one the UFC wants. If Brock wins, he'll likely get his rematch with Cain Velasquez. I don't think it will go much better for him.
TOBEN SHELBY, MMATORCH AUDIO CO-HOST
I think the most important thing that Brock Lesnar needs to do next is not shave that beard... ever. It's magnificent. As far as his fight career goes, I don't think there's a clear answer for that. He definitely needs to work on being more comfortable in the standup game; I'm not expecting huge strides in his standup offensively, but his defense clearly needs to tighten up. For his next fight I'm not really sure who's available. We might see the rubber match with Frank Mir or maybe something with Cheick Kongo. I'm holding out hope for my dream matchup though – Lesnar versus Roy Nelson.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lesnar definitely needs to evaluate whether or not his crew of paid training partners is the best thing for him right now. There's a huge potential for those fighters to be "yes men" in camp because Brock pays the bills, and in that case he may not be getting pushed quite to the level he needs to be in training to make him the best possible Lesnar come fight night. As for the fights on the horizon, Lesnar-Mir III is definitely a possibility, as is a rematch with Shane Carwin, but I don't necessarily believe they'd be the most interesting options. Carwin would be preferable over Mir at this point, but I think bouts against Antonio Minotauro Nogueira or Roy Nelson would be highly interesting as well.
RELATED STORY: Part one of this roundtable with responses from Hansen, Lee, Hyden, Hobaugh, Matthew and Amadi: [CLICK TO READ FULL ROUNDTABLE]
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