According to a new MMAFighting.com report, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is “in serious talks” to make a shocking surprise return to the Octagon.

The MMA Fighting report states that Lesnar and the UFC are both “close to finalizing a deal” that if all things go through as planned, will lead to UFC announcing his return “imminently.”

Reports online also claim that Lesnar would be returning to the Octagon sooner than one might think, as it’s being reported that Lesnar would be fighting at the upcoming landmark UFC 200 event.

Headlined by Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, UFC 200 is scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• Who Will Brock Lesnar Fight At UFC 200 If It Happens? Keep Up With This Story At MMANews.com!

After talking about his old “Curb Stomp” finisher being banned by WWE on his recent appearance on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast at PodcastOne.com, Seth Rollins broke out another banned move during his match with AJ Styles at Saturday night’s WWE live event.

Rollins used the Vertebreaker on Styles during the match, a move that was made famous by Shane Helms and used by others, such as Nova and Homicide, in the past. The move was banned by WWE 15 years ago.

You can check out footage of Rollins using the Vertebreaker on Styles at Saturday night’s WWE live event below.

Haven't seen this move in a while omg

A video posted by @revolverambrose on Jun 11, 2016 at 8:12pm PDT

• PHOTOS: UFC Champ Miesha Tate Makes Reebok Look Good …REAL Good!

After winning the NBA Championship by coming back to defeat the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night, Cleveland Cavaliers player Kevin Love paid homage to WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin by wearing the iconic “Austin 3:16” t-shirt and drinking beers during their lockerroom celebration, which you can see above.

Additionally, WWE has sent the entire Cavs team their own customized WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt. You can check out the photos below.

The richest prize in @WWE is on its way to Cleveland to help the @cavs celebrate winning the @NBA Championship! https://t.co/nmUSwAaLZh

— WWE (@WWE) June 20, 2016

Lebron pays @HOMAGE with one last dig at Golden State pic.twitter.com/sNyCiMSMBb

— Greg the Virgin (@StatGuyGreg) June 20, 2016

• UPDATE: Latest On Possible Injury During Sunday’s MITB Ladder Match

It looks like WWE’s first Chinese national athlete signing, Bin Wang, is going to be a keeper.

Wang had his first sparring session inside an official WWE ring at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida with William Regal and NXT performer Tino Sabbatelli, as seen in the video below.

WWE Senior Director of Talent Development, Canyon Ceman, stated the following after seeing Wang’s first workout. “It was very clear that he was confident, that he was prepared and that he was ready for this challenge,” Ceman said. “I see him doing big things for this company.” He also noted that “none of us could have even hoped that Wang would captivate the room the way he did.”

Bin Wang is ready to do big things for @WWE after locking up with @RealKingRegal in a @WWE ring for the first time! https://t.co/DgbzbJDDOX

— WWE (@WWE) June 29, 2016

• Stephanie McMahon Says WWE Does NOT Support Brock Lesnar’s UFC Return! What’s Going On?

Former WWE Superstar Adam Rose, now known as Aldo Rose, recently appeared as a guest on the Pancakes And Powerslams Show, where he spoke at length about his WWE departure and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On his character turning heel:

“I did a commercial, and once I did the commercial, I realized that we were going down the wrong path. I think on the main stage, it needed to be introduced as a heel, because it was so quirky and so different. I think if it was introduced as a heel, then people wouldn’t have felt forced to love it, and then I felt that they would have naturally fell in love with certain parts of the quirkiness, and it would have naturally evolved to something or someone who people liked. I think that was a big mistake.

“I think one of the hardest things to do in this industry is to get over as a babyface. Some people have a natural connection with the audience. [Someone] like Sami Zayn has a natural connection with the audience. I don’t think Adam Rose had any with the audience because he was completely quirky and over-the-top and ridiculous. And I think that’s why it would have been better introduced as a heel because your automatic reaction to seeing someone like that is not to like it.”

On when he found out about the formation of the Social Outcasts:

“We had no idea. I think we were told about 5 o’clock on a Monday night that we were now going to be a group. I think we were four guys who the company saw had something, but we were doing nothing. So I think the idea was like, okay, let’s put them together collectively in a group, and these are guys who don’t know each other really well. I think the awkwardness of it was actually one of the reasons [why it worked]. You get all these well-polished teams, and the idea was for the faction to not be well-polished, and the idea was for us not to get along, to almost be bumping heads and trying to one-up each other the whole time. I think the Social Outcasts has talented individuals in it. I don’t think the Social Outcasts is going to be a deal loss; I think it is going to be, given the right structure, could take off. But, it’s all a matter of where you put it.”

On his future:

“It not the end. It’s just the beginning of a different journey, it’s a reset, and some people would look down upon working the independents, but I view it as an amazing experience to get to do that, because I never got to do that. Coming from South Africa, I missed that entire experience, from wrestling in the Congo to wrestling in FCW. So that’s something I’m really excited about. And there are some talks with other companies, so it’s not over yet, and this isn’t the last you’ll see of me.”

On wanting to wrestle Ricochet:

“Just for the opportunity to see if I could hang. I would love to see if I could hang, because there’s a lot in the tank that I never delved into, and now I get an opportunity to delve into it. And I think the audiences might be surprised of actually what’s left in the tank and what they’ve never seen.”

• WWE Draft Spoilers — Big Tag-Teams To Be Split Onto Separate Brands

Third Quarter 2016 Highlights

• Revenue of $164.2 million was on par with a record third quarter in 2015, which benefited from the WWE series, Tough Enough and Total Divas; 2016 revenue-to-date increased 8% from 2015 to $534.3 million
• Q3 2016 OIBDA of $24.5 million and Operating income of $18.3 million were in line with the Company’s guidance1
• WWE Network subscribers increased 24% from the third quarter 2015 to 1.46 million average paid subscribers over the third quarter 2016, consistent with the Company’s guidance

• WWE Network’s Net Promoter Score ranked second among major U.S. OTT services, behind only Netflix, according to research by Parks and Associates(Hulu and MLB.TV ranked 3rd and 4th)
• The Company completed a content distribution deal in Germany (ProSieben) to grow WWE’s international audience
• Through the first nine months of 2016, digital engagement continued to grow with video views up 71% to 11.5 billion and social media engagements up 43% to 873 million from the prior year
• NBCU secured 50 new blue chip advertisers for WWE programming in a two-year period

2017 Outlook

• The Company outlines management expectations for 2017, which include continued WWE Network subscriber growth, record revenue, targeted Adjusted OIBDA of $100 millionand Operating income of $70 million2

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced financial results for its third quarter 2016. The Company reported Net income of $11.1 million, or $0.14per diluted share, as compared to Net income of $10.4 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter.

“During the quarter, we continued to effectively execute our content strategy, which has resulted in record revenues to-date in 2016 and increased consumption across our media platforms,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “This growth illustrates meaningful progress against our long-term strategic plan and provides the foundation for achieving our 2017 financial objectives.”

George Barrios, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, stated “We achieved a 24% increase in average paid subscribers to WWE Network and generated profits that were within the range of our guidance. We expect continued year-over-year growth in subscribers and profits for the fourth quarter resulting in strong full year performance that is in-line with our previous business outlook.”

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Business Outlook

The Company projects fourth quarter Adjusted OIBDA of approximately $20 million to $24 million (Operating income of $12 million to $16 million) and average paid subscribers to WWE Network of 1.40 million (+/- 2%). The fourth quarter subscriber forecast represents an approximate 4% sequential decline from the third quarter 2016 and a 13% increase from the fourth quarter 2015. The Company also projects 2016 Adjusted OIBDA of $80 million to $84 million (Operating income of $54 million to $58 million) and average paid subscribers to WWE Network of approximately 1.42 million representing growth of 25% for the full year.3

2017 Outlook

In 2017, WWE management expects the Company to achieve another year of record revenue and has targeted Adjusted OIBDA of $100 million, which would also be an all-time record (up approximately 20% from projected 2016 Adjusted OIBDA of $80 million to $84 million), and Operating income of $70 million. Supporting the continued growth in the Company’s revenue and profits, management anticipates contractual increases in television rights fees from key distribution agreements and expects the level of WWE Networksubscribers will continue to increase, albeit at a lower rate, on a year-over-year basis. As management believes there is a significant long term growth opportunity for WWE, the company plans to continue to invest in key areas to optimize WWE’s long-term performance while driving strong bottom line performance.

Providing perspective on the growth of WWE Network and the company’s targeted profit expansion, Mr. Barrios commented, “Given the current scale and leverage of WWE Network, increases in its subscribers have the potential to drive meaningful growth in revenue and profit; therefore, we define success by the achievement of sustained year-over-year increases in this measure. Based on anticipated subscriber growth, we believe we can achieve our targeted record financial results in 2017. Moreover, the continued growth of WWE Network would enable us to deliver a wider range of content, strengthening our engagement with a broadening audience of ardent fans. In addition to supporting our 2017 financial objective, growth of WWE Network would provide us with greater flexibility as the media landscape continues to evolve.”2

For detailed financial results, click here.