Few names carry the weight of Ronda Rousey. The former UFC bantamweight champion broke barriers for women’s MMA and became one of the sport’s first global superstars. Now, nearly a decade after her last fight, she’s back in training and teasing the possibility of a comeback.

But when it comes to the historic UFC White House card planned for 2026, insiders believe the spotlight won’t be on Rousey. Instead, the attention is shifting to another legend, a giant who once terrorized the heavyweight division and still looks like he could step into the Octagon tomorrow if he wanted to: Brock Lesnar.

Chael Sonnen throws his weight behind Brock Lesnar instead of Ronda Rousey for the UFC White House event

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen began by stating, “And when you’re talking about somebody that can just walk out there for this incredible entrance, you see a video surface on Instagram of Ronda claiming she’s doing MMA when she is, in fact, hitting mitts like a boxercise class.”

At 38, Rousey seems content with life after fighting. She’s raised a family, headlined WWE events, written books, and taken roles in Hollywood. Yet she’s never fully shut the door on MMA. On The Lapsed Fan Podcast, she recently admitted she’d “never say never” to fighting again. But as mentioned by Sonnen, she made waves when she shared side-by-side clips of her training, beginning just weeks after giving birth to her second child.

Rousey wrote in the caption, “The first clip is my first session working with [coach AJ Matthews]. I was super self-conscious, embarrassed of how much I regressed, and honestly trying my very best not to p** my pants throwing punches so soon after having baby Pā’ū. Second clip was yesterday, I’ve never laughed or smiled so much on the mat as I do these days.”

But in ‘The Bad Guy’s view, Ronda Rousey is apparently chasing the feeling of her glory years as he further stated, “But in her mind, right, she’s had 20 good years and she’s going to spend the rest of her life and she’s going to try to get back to those 20.”

Then came the comparison as the UFC veteran laid out his own take on who deserves a return as he stated in the video, “Meanwhile, one guy that is in shape, one guy that does still (air quotes) compete, one guy that is a physical specimen, one guy that looks the same as he did when he left is Brock Lesnar. And he’s doing the same thing under the same umbrella of TKO.”

While he is 48 now, Brock Lesnar last stepped into the Octagon in 2016. But his physique tells a different story. His recent WWE return drew an outpouring of stunned reactions from fans.  During his UFC run, Lesnar was a terrifying force. At 265 pounds, his size and wrestling credentials overwhelmed champions like Randy Couture and Frank Mir on his way to winning the heavyweight crown. Though his run was short, it left an indelible mark.

For a spectacle-driven event like UFC White House, Brock Lesnar’s larger-than-life aura may simply be too good to pass up. In fact, according to a former ‘champ-champ,’ it was his time inside the Octagon that helped him take his career to new heights when he went back to the wrestling ring!

Daniel Cormier reveals how Lesnar’s time in the UFC made him “special” in the WWE

The former UFC and WWE champion stepped back into the spotlight over the weekend, dominating John Cena at Wrestlepalooza and even making kids in the crowd cry. The spectacle reminded fans why Brock Lesnar has always been larger than life.

And who better to weigh in than the last UFC fighter who stood across from him? Daniel Cormier, who shared the Octagon with Lesnar in 2018 during their famous post-fight confrontation at UFC 226, recently reflected on what makes ‘The Beast’ so unique.

Speaking on the Good Guy/Bad Guy show with his co-host Chael Sonnen, Cormier stated, “He looked big. I think he looked strong… He’s mean as crap. He’s beating up on everybody. He beats the refs. He beat up on Michael Cole the other day. Bro, how you gonna beat up on Michael Cole? He picked Cole up. Cole goes, ‘He picked me up like I was a little boy.’ He goes, ‘I’m a heavy man.’ Brock is like carrying him in the ring.”

But for Cormier, the real magic of Lesnar goes beyond size or strength. It’s about authenticity as the former ‘champ-champ’ confessed, “The one thing that Brock Lesnar always brought to that product is a realness because he was the UFC heavyweight champion. I think that when people see him, they think this guy really could beat me up. I think that’s what’s special about Brock Lesnar.”

Perhaps that’s why Sonnen believes that for an event as historic as UFC White House, Dana White and company will want more than sentiment. They’ll want a spectacle that blurs the line between sport and show, and few can deliver that better than Brock Lesnar!