Afterwards, Brock took a big step up in competition, having agreed to face Jameel McCline on 23 April, just three months after beating Etienne. McCline, ranked No.8 heavyweight in the world by "The Ring" at the time, was coming off of a razor-thin split decision loss to Chris Byrd for IBF world heavyweight title in what was described as an entertaining fight, and was viewed as the favorite coming into the Brock bout. The fight was scheduled to take place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada and was televised on ESPN as part of the undercard of the pay-per-view fight between Antonio Margarito and Kermit Cintrón. Brock weighed in at and was outweighed by McCline by . The fight started with McCline trying to work behind the jab, while Brock tried to close the distance, working primarily McCline's body. In the middle rounds, Brock largely outboxed McCline using bob and weave strategy, but was knocked down in the seventh round with a short left hook followed by a right hand. Brock got up from the knockdown and finished the round strong and proceeded to outbox McCline for the remaining of the fight. The bout went full ten rounds, with Brock being declared the winner by unanimous decision (UD), with scores 97–93, 96–94 and 96–93. The fight was praised by critics, with prominent coach Teddy Atlas predicting a bright future for Brock in the heavyweight division. The win over McCline allowed Brock to enter "The Ring" heavyweight rankings. He was also ranked within top ten by all major sanctioning bodies.