(‘Come on, Brock. What did we talk about? A little foundation is fine, but you go piling it on like this and it just makes you look desperate.’)
If you don’t like seeing Brock Lesnar in the UFC, and if you didn’t enjoy his appearance on E:60, you’re really not going to like this.
Maybe you hoped Dana White would give up on the former WWE star if he fails to beat Randy Couture. Maybe you just hoped he and his enormous traps would get stuck in a doorway somewhere in a remote part of Minnesota and he’d never be heard from again. Unfortunately for you, the second scenario is starting to sound more plausible than the first. Judging by Dana White’s remarks to The Sun, he seems to be absolutely smitten with Lesnar:
“It’s such an interesting fight because Couture is so good at coming up with plans for finding weaknesses in guys’ games and exposing them. But Lesnar’s such a different animal, this guy is so big, so strong and so fast at that weight it’s just phenomenal.
“For what he lacks in technique and knowledge, he makes up for in size, speed and power. Lesnar could go on to be the best heavyweight and the longest-reigning heavyweight – who knows what could happen with him.”
Who knows, indeed. He could go down in history as the greatest MMA fighter who ever lived. He could beat every heavyweight in the world, then travel into space to defeat intergalactic heavyweights. Instead of dying like a mortal man he could ascend to heaven on a winged white steed while angels sing a glorious song that churns the seas into a golden froth. Man, I have got to stop doing peyote in the afternoon.
The point is, it seems a little premature to get so worked up about a guy who’s 2-1 and has a bad habit of quitting stuff to go do other stuff, right? And then you hear this little afterthought thrown in there:
“If Couture loses to Lesnar, I don’t know how much more interest there is in a Fedor v Couture fight. I think you’d be looking at Fedor going up against whoever the best heavyweight at the time is.”
Okay, now I get it. White’s hedging his bets. If Couture wins, he’s still the champ and the UFC still has him under contract for two more fights. If Lesnar wins, it not only fits this heavyweight messiah storyline but it also kills the interest in a Fedor/Couture fight, or so Dana hopes.
You know who’s not so crazy about this plan? Fedor’s manager, Vadim Finklestein, who had this to say in a statement offered to FightLine.com:
Dana says UFC’s doors are wide open. Maybe they are. But these doors also shut tightly once the fighter signs with the organization. Randy Couture came back to the UFC and what now?
Instead of fighting the best in the promotion he has to fight a young upstart with 2-1 pro-record. Couture might not survive all the three contractual fights. I’m afraid that’s being made in order to finish the star which is Randy and not let him fight Fedor.
Finklestein goes on to say that Fedor doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone, that he can just hang out and fight Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett, and he likens Dana White to “a man with a big tasty pie who’s afraid that someone comes and bites a piece of it.”
I’m not sure that analogy helps make his point. If I had a big tasty pie, I doubt I’d want anyone biting pieces of it, either. You let one person do that, then pretty soon the whole neighborhood’s biting on your pie, and it’s so delicious, and word gets around, and…wait, what kind of pie is it? Goddamn peyote.
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commentsIt probably isn't the peyote... you just probably read one too many NY Times editorials about Obama.
i hope he gets hit by a truck
"He’s got the wrestling background, and Kimbo has the street fighting (or stand up) background."
You are comparing national wrestling championships to shitty boxing matches with fat guys in backyards? GTFO!
I honestly can't say which way this is going to go. Lesnar has the physical attributes randy has the technical.
If we just took physical presence over ability, Sean Sherk would have put BJ Penn and GSP to sleep, Couture would have lost to Sylvia and Gonzaga an Phil Baroni would just have every belt on the planet in whatever wight class he's in these days.
I know Dana White wants to hype this guy, but the UFC HW division kinda blows, and good lord if Randy beats him things look really bleak. I'd love to see Lesnar turn into a real fighter, because I like watching good fighters. But this is starting to sound a little Kimbo or Sappy. Lesnar has to prove himself to someone other than WWE fans.
I would be surprised at how many people can't see through Dana's transparent attempt to deflate any casual fan's interest in a fight between Fedor and Randy. He's desperately spin doctoring so that clueless TUF newbs don't find the fight interesting, but he's overlooking the fact that Lesnar has not even accomplished anything in MMA. He's not even close to Randy's status, never mind Fedor's.
I'd be surprised, if I hadn't seen how many ignorant fans Brock has already garnered among the dregs of humanity.
I really don't care who wins between Randy and Brock. It's a bad matchup for Randy, but I'm not writing him entirely off. Needless to say, Nog beats both of them handily, and Fedor would destroy them.
But the bottom line is, Dana is desperately hedging his bets and attempting in any possible way to discredit Fedor/Affliction because they are beyond his control and he feels threatened by that.
Casual fans will come and go, but Fedor remains eternal. His contribution to the sport is something Lesnar will never accomplish, even if he doesn't quit and try his XXL hand at some other trend-of-the-moment.
rh
All that to say; you think Mir exposed a weakness in Brock, wait till Capt America gets a hold of his big ass!
P.S. I bet you Kimbo haters, and Lesner middle leg lickers are voting for McCain aren't you.
i'll give dana his due on this one: it's an interesting match-up and it sent a clear message to Couture or any other fighter thinking he's bigger than the game.
In an ideal world though we'd have Kimbo vs Lesnar for the FREAK show and a main card fight of Couture vs Fedor as potentially one of the greatest HW fights of all time.
"Randy’s game does not go well with this fight. Randy has always liked to be the bully when he fights. Physically controlling his opponent and emposing his will on them. That will not be the case against Brock Lesnar. (...) Randy has never fought anyone like Brock."
That's only half true, buddy. When he was fighting Gabe Gonzaga (who walks around at 260, 270lbs) people pretty much said the same thing. Now we all know how the whole Gonzage-hype went down the drain but at that time he was considered the next big thing. One scarry, young, big dude, who's not only very agile for his size but also extremely experienced on the ground and heavy handed. A bad, bad match-up for Randy. But he concentrated on his own strenghts, exploiting his opponents weaknesses.
Actually for most of his Heaveyweight bouts he was the smaller competitor.
From Steven Graham (who, okay, pretty much gave up fighting professionally after getting pummeled by Randy, and it was ten years ago, but still, 290lbs) to Tim Sylvia (270lbs), Randy's domination was not so much a physical one. It was rather some kind of instinct how to exploit chances when offered by his opponents.
I'm not saying it's going to be just another day in the office for Randy - in fact, I am very concerned it wont - but if he survives the first round he should be fine.
If Brock makes a mistake (and I hope he does, taking into consideration he is still a "rookie" in the sport he most certainly will) Randy should be fine.
If Brock is not 100% mentally there, Randy should be fine.
But still that's a lot of "Ifs".
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