Smark Out Moment

In a shocking report by MMAFighting, the story broke that Brock Lesnar may be returning at UFC 200. During the event that was headlined by the rematch between Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping, the official announcement was made. Brock Lesnar is indeed fighting at UFC 200, but the opponent is yet to be decided. So now I get to have some fun and speculate who that might be.

NOTE: The list will exclude any heavyweights I know to be injured, or that I know to have scheduled bouts, such as Cain Velasquez.

Shane Carwin

If you have watched enough Brock Lesnar matches in the modern era of wrestling, you'll hear JBL blurt out one of the two facts he knows about MMA. One of which references the first man on my list, Shane Carwin—a man who Lesnar has already defeated once before... right JBL?

Brock Lesnar's chin had been called into question leading up to the bout at UFC 116. During this fight, those questions were silenced temporarily. Brock Lesnar was hit with a huge barrage of strikes from knockout artist Carwin. Having barely survived the first round, Lesnar smiled leading into the second. Following which, he choked out a now exhausted Shane Carwin, unifying the interim Heavyweight title with the belt he couldn't defend due to illness.

Many people questioned if the fight should've been stopped during the barrage of punches Lesnar took. Because of that, it's not a stretch to believe that Carwin could beat Lesnar. Though both men haven't competed in a several years, Carwin reached out on Twitter and said he's down for it. So why not?

Junior Dos Santos

Junior Dos Santos may be the nicest Brazilian on the planet. He's always smiling and he's very respectful. Basically, the polar opposite of Brock Lesnar.

While the parallels between the two make for an interesting story, there is more to it. As it happens, these two men were meant to face off once before. The two coached opposite each other during the UFC's reality show The Ultimate Fighter.

While the 13th season is pretty forgettable, it did allow people to see Brock Lesnar in a unique environment. But overall, you just felt cheated for not seeing the fight go down.

The chances are high that Brock gets whooped by JDS' lightning quick hands, but JDS could use a big fight right now and Lesnar has some unfinished business.

Frank Mir

Of Lesnar's opponents, Mir is a guy who Lesnar has battled twice in the octagon. The first was in Lesnar's MMA debut, in which he lost via submission at UFC 81. Lesnar would later avenge that loss, when he successfully defended his title via TKO at UFC 100.

Though Frank Mir's career has been rocky since then, a trilogy fight is a missed opportunity that the UFC can now rectify. This is probably the easiest and lowest-risk fight Brock Lesnar is going to get—at least in terms of drawing power.

I even have a great tag line for it!

Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir III: Because McGregor Fucked Up Our Plans.

Unfortunately, there is one major thing that stands in the way of this fight. Frank Mir has been busted for illegal substances and could face a ban from the sport. How long? I don't know. But until more information is released, I'm not condemning Mir to guilt and not ruling this potential fight out.

Josh Barnett

You may have heard of Josh Barnett from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Besides wrestling for them, Barnett had an announcing gig with Mauro Ranallo on AXS TV. As it happened, they had awesome chemistry and quickly became my favorite announce team in recent memory.

So with an understanding and history of professional wrestling, not only can Barnett hype this fight, he can help salvage Brock Lesnar's. Because let's be real, there is a huge chance Lesnar gets smashed.

WWE has since commented on the whole UFC 200 situation and have announced Lesnar for SummerSlam. They could work out a deal to bring Barnett in and have him do the honors.

More importantly, it would mark the first time UFC and WWE did cross-promoted matches and fights.

Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor is Russian, friends with Putin and argued to be the greatest heavyweight of all time. Plus, he was the face of Japanese MMA and PRIDE FC.

So with America vs. Russia and UFC vs. PRIDE as a great back story, you have two of the most elite heavyweights of all time going at it.

Many argued—including Lesnar himself—that had he not struggled with diverticulitis, he would have been unstoppable. Maybe so.

Fedor had a 29 fight win streak and was a never defeated for his heavyweight championship.

It won't be the same as when they were closer to their primes, but at UFC 200, that doesn't really matter. Dana White has tried and failed to get this fight before. Even in 2016, I'd be hyped if he could make this happen.

That's it for my top 5 opponents for Brock Lesnar at UFC 200. If you disagree or have your own, post them in the comment section below.