Brock Lesnar: Champ or Chump?

After the main event of the largest milestone for the UFC up to date, many were left flabbergasted. Unfortunately, it was not due to the sheer dominance its heavyweight displayed but rather his complete disregard for his opponent and fans in the arena. The question that continues to be asked is whether Brock Lesnar is on the level.

When first coming to the UFC, Lesnar was met with skeptism about his ability to compete in the number one organization for mix martial arts in the world. The Minnesota native is well known for his time spent with WWE but not from his accomplished amateur wrestling. Fans did not greet Lesnar with open arms as the UFC and Lesnar expected. Instead, its fan were outraged that a fake was entering its midst. Instead of silencing his critics, Lesnar created controversy.

Brock Lesnar was an outstanding amateur wrestler where his only lost in his latter two years  in the NCAA wrestling championship came in 1999 to Stephen Neal of Cal-State Bakersfield (151-10) who would become an offensive lineman of the New England Patriots. Stephen Neal in 1991 won the FILA Outstanding Wrestler Award, an honor given to who is considered to be the best wrestler in the world.

Therefore, many overlooked the tremendous athletic power and ability he would bring when he stepped into the cage. His success in transition from fight entertainment and real competition, has come as a surprise. His opponents haven’t been warm ups for him to build his confidence and self esteem, but rather quality opponents who pose a real threat to anyone. He defeated the likes of Heath Herring, veteran of PRIDE, Randy Couture, UFC Hall of Famer and first ever to be champion of two different weight classes, and recently, avenging his loss to Frank Mir, former UFC champion who lost the belt due to a motorcycle accident. His opponents have been the who-who of MMA and are considered to be some of the premier heavyweights in the world. 

Regardless, Lesnar (4-1) put his opponents through the meat grinder. His one loss, his debut, came the way of kneebar. His lack of jiu-jitsu skills was believed to be his weakness when he first met Mir and it was demonstrated to be true when Mir (12-4) was able to pull a victory from behind. In their second meeting, there was great hype and bad blood. Lesnar made it clear he was out to avenge his loss and would be unmerciful in the process. 

Before the fight even began he stated he had no respect for any of his opponents, especially for Mir. Whether it is a mentality he carries for his opponents as opponents or if he blatantly has no respect for them as individuals is yet to be determined. When it was time to touch gloves, Mir made the suggestion but Lesnar made no attempt. There was no hype coming from 6’3” 290lb beast from Minneapolis and what hot air he was blowing was from the nostrils of a raging bull ready to be unleashed. And so the match began.

By the end of the first round, it looked like Mir was impersonating Batman villain Two-face. Half of Mir’s face was demolished by the 3x hands of Lesnar. Lesnar would return for the second round to finish the job he had started. And then he went berserk. He looked like a high school football line backer who had just laid the hit of the week and was going absolutely going out of control. But this wasn’t high-school, this was in the greatest stage of professional fighting. Lesnar went on to taunt Mir while he was still dazed and trying to make sense from the beating he had received. Lesnar did not finish there as he went on to go off in the camera, twisting his face as if he were trying to bite the camera man’s face off , all the while saliva was dripping from his mouth like a savage pitbull. 

If that wasn’t enough, he then flipped off the fans whom were booing him and make inappropriate remarks about him and his wife on live television. Then he went after UFC’s largest financial supporter, Bud light. If there was someone to offend, Lesnar did so on July 11. When he first began he sounded like a man just blowing up some post fight steam. By the end of it you couldn’t believe what you had just witnessed.

In the post conference, Lesnar revealed he had a “whip the dog session” from his boss (Dana White) and the circus he created after the fight was due to his days of WWE. Those from WWE rebute the remark and have commented what you saw that night was the real Brock Lesnar. A man who did not like to lose and a poor sense of censorship. As Lesnar is fulfilling his role as the most hated man in mix martial arts, many are now looking for his defeat rather than his potential to become one of the greats in the sport.

 Lesnar still has a slim chance to follow the steps of past great wrestlers like Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, Josh Kosheck, and Mark Coleman. Or he can fall into obscurity like one happy man to finally be out of that role from people’s minds momentarily, Kimbo Slice.