(Brock, pre-c*ck sword)

Former UFC heavyweight champion death-clutch-part-1%2F&ei=M9EcTpOUNMbyqwHm1PjbCg&usg=AFQjCNGJXxXDzbajSO5NL-EACLQGYX_1Ig&sig2=6FVu78miUN6-YU6LYWDB0w” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>Brock Lesnar was born in Webster, South Dakota on this day in 1977.

Thanks to an undefeated 33-0 record he compiled in his final year of high school and an upset victory over top-seeded University of Minnesota heavyweight Brent Boeschans his division in the North Dakota State University’s Bison Open Tournament in 1997 while attending Bismarck Junior College, Lesnar was granted a full scholarship by Boeschans Alma Mater the following year after Bismarck dropped its wrestling program. Brock, who had amassed a 56-3 record in his two years at Bismarck wasted no time in making a name for himself at U of M by winning the Big 10 tournament and effectively ending Iowa’s 25-year streak as tournament champion.

Compiling a near-perfect 24-1 record his junior year, he also placed second in the NCAA tournament that year after losing a 3-2 decision to Stephen Neal of Cal State-Bakersfield. His loss, which was the only one he suffered that year, gave Iowa the tournament. He won the tournament the following year.

Brock Lesnar v Stephen Neal 1999 NCAA… by TSB01

During his amateur wrestling career, Brock put together a 50-2 record in his two years in Minnesota and a 106-5 overall record  in his four combined  years of college. He was a two-time NJCAA All-American, 1998 NJCAA Heavyweight Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Conference Champion, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion.

Not bad for a farm kid from North Dakota.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/TheWholeFknShow)

After graduating from college, Lesnar was picked up by the WWE, where he became one of the company’s biggest draws. After leaving the promotion in 2004, in 2005 he began competing for Antonio Inoki’s International Wrestling Grand Prix (the pre-cursor to the Inoki Genome Federation) in Japan where he soon became the organization’s heavyweight champ. His last professional wrestling match was against TNA heavyweight champion Kurt Angle under the IWGP banner on June 29, 2007. He lost the champion versus champion bout.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/IKApeXz)

Three weeks prior to his final pro-wrestling bout, Lesnar made his MMA debut against Min-Soo Kim June 2, 2007 at Dynamite! USA in Los Angeles, Calif. He defeated Kim by submission due to strikes at 1:09 of the opening round. That October, during the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 77, the UFC announced it had come to terms with Lesnar and he made his debut four months later against Frank Mir at UFC 81, losing in quick fashion to the former UFC heavyweight champion via kneebar in just 1:30.

After dominating Heath Herring in his next bout to earn a unanimous decision, Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to win the UFC heavyweight strap nine months after his loss to Mir. Eight months later he defeated Mir in the rematch the same way that he did Couture — by second-round TKO.

While on a hunting trip in Canada, Lesnar was rushed to a local hospital and then transferred to another facility in the U.S. where doctors discovered he had diverticulitis, which could have proven fatal if not treated. The illness forced him to sit out a year before competing again.

Surviving a tough opening-round salvo against UFC interim heavyweight champ Shane Carwin in his second title defense on July 3, 2010, Lesnar came back in the second to submit his exhausted challenger with an arm-triangle.

He wouldn’t be so lucky in his next bout.

It took challenger Cain Velasquez just 4:12 to defeat Lesnar by TKO to win the title and improve his record to 9-0.

A second battle with diverticulitis forced Lesnar, who is the highest paid fighter according to ESPN, to pull out of his UFC 131 bout with fellow TUF 13 Junior dos Santos. He was replaced by Carwin, who lost to the durable Brazilian.

It’s unclear whether or not Lesnar is responding well to treatment and if and when he will return to compete in the UFC.

On  this day in 1996, Mark Coleman made his UFC and MMA debut, defeating Moti Horenstein at UFC 10 via first-round TKO in Birmingham, Alabama.

That same night, he defeated Gary Goodridge (submission due to exhaustion) and Don Frye (TKO due to strikes) to win the tournament.

Three fights later he won the UFC’s first heavyweight strap by choking out Dan Severn in less than two minutes. Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at UFC 82. The 44-year-old, who is now 16-10 has not fought since losing to Randy Couture at UFC 109 in February 2010 and being subsequently released by Zuffa.