5 Simple Reasons Why Brock Lesnar is Far From Done Following UFC 121
By: Oliver Saenz Posted On: October 24, 2010 at 10:32am
Really, guys? People are already predicting that Brock Lesnar is going to run screaming from MMA and back to the WWE after losing to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121? O ye, of little faith. It seems that everyone is jumping off of the Lesnar Express and onto the Cain Train following Cain Velasquez’s destruction of Lesnar, with many Lesnar cynics once again trotting out how Lesnar is a failure, can’t take a punch, is a horrible human being, and all manner of other unsavory statements. To which I say: you’ve got to be kidding me, right? Just off the top of my head, here are five reasons why Brock Lesnar will continue to be a major force in the UFC’s heavyweight division.
1. Brock Lesnar is the archetypal “giant with skill”.
Lesnar is a giant among giants; he’s a monster heavyweight in an era where monster heavyweights are becoming increasingly more common. Yet unlike hulking behemoths like Bob Sapp, Lesnar has a huge amount of skill to back up his huge amount of muscles. Despite his loss to Velasquez, Lesnar’s credentials haven’t magically disappeared: he’s still an incredible collegiate wrestler, and he’s still beaten some of the best in the game.
2. Brock Lesnar is a massive Pay-Per-View draw.
Every single one of Lesnar’s last few fights have all been on Pay-Per-View cards that pulled in over a million buys. People are practically falling over themselves in their rush to order a fight card headlined by Lesnar. The UFC knows full well that he’s an incredible cash-cow, and they’re not going to squander the boon they’ve been given. Whether the cynics like it or not, Lesnar is going to be competing in co-main and main events until the fans get tired of him, and with how controversial he always seems to be, I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.
3. Brock Lesnar has seven fights as a professional Mixed Martial Artist.
The man has lost twice and people are already thinking that he should call it a career. Lesnar is thirty-three years old, he’s been competing in MMA for a little over three years. Most people don’t even get into the UFC in the first three years of their career, but Lesnar has climbed the mountain and even defended his UFC championship twice before losing it. I think Lesnar could fight until he’s forty if he wanted to. If Brock Lesnar really wants to stay in the MMA game, there’s virtually nothing preventing him from having a long career as a Mixed Martial Artist.
4. Brock Lesnar usually shows a huge amount of improvement on a fight-by-fight basis.
Losing to Frank Mir motivated Brock Lesnar so much that he came back and immediately ran over everyone in his path. Just imagine what this loss to Velasquez will do for him. I think Lesnar hates losing, and I also think that he’s going to train even harder now that he’s lost twice. Compare his loss to Mir with his first fight after that loss, a huge win over Heath Herring, and it’s like a night-and-day transformation. If Lesnar is able to do that again now that he’s lost again, he’ll be challenging for the title before the year is through.
5. Brock Lesnar can take a punch whether you want to admit it or not.
Brock Lesnar nearly got KO’d by Shane Carwin and got (T)KO’d by Cain Velasquez. Newsflash people: Cain Velasquez has (T)KO’d everyone he’s ever faced except for Cheick Kongo, Shane Carwin had eight wins in twelve fights due to strikes before he met Lesnar. Lesnar’s jaw is not made of glass. He can take a punch, he just has problems taking a bunch of punches from two of the deadliest strikers currently competing in Mixed Martial Arts. This was the first (T)KO loss of Lesnar’s career, let’s wait to see if it happens again before we say that he has no chin.
So that’s my list, fans and friends. Love him or hate him, Brock Lesnar has accomplished a lot in an amazingly short period of time, and he’s done it in the biggest, best, and most competitive MMA organization in the world. But what about you, fans and friends? What do you think the future holds for Lesnar?
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Comments
Losing in itself does not mean anything. Everyone can lose. it didn’t mean anything when Fedor lost, and likewise it doesn’t mean anything when Brock Lesnar lost. Brock lost graciously, and so long as he finds a better trainer for next time I’ll like Brock for winning against most people.
Brock’s trainer has done him a huge disservice, however. Against Shane Carwin it became clear that Brock has insufficient training against ground and pound receiving side. Look at people like Fedor who turn a ground and pound receiving into an escape or submission attempt within 3 or 4 swings of the opponent. And then look at Brock who in two cases now (Shane and Cain) only covered up but didn’t fight back when getting a ground and pound. Brock needs either better trainers (I’m not sure how good his current ones are–maybe they’re okay) or a bigger diversity of trainers.
If I were Brock Lesnar I’d actually ask Fedor’s camp to teach me. I imagine Fedor is nearing retirement, and the two of them will probably never fight. So if Fedor or his camp could teach Brock that would be really cool.
The alternative is to do what others do which is fight in lots and lots of Jui Jitsu or Samaba tournaments. Brock just needs more training on his weaknesses, and his current trainers let him down by not teaching him what his last two fights showed he most needs.
But I like Brock now more than I used to.
Now, if I were Dana White, I’d create a super heavyweight division and put people like Brock and Shane in it, and I’d keep the heavy weight division a carefully tested anti-steroid division so he’d have somewhere to put the unnaturally big people and still have a divisoin where the normal fighters can match their skill fairly.
I think they should just raise the weight classes a bit like make LHW max at 210 or 215 (which is natural to most of those guys), and raise the HW to 285 to accomadate Brocks, Carwins, and Slyvias. Raise the WW to 175 and MW to 190 and keep everything else the same. Looking forward to Cain vs Dos Santos which could end up being the epic match most thought Brock vs Carwin would be except with more skill involved.
Wow! Cain really put it to Lesnar! That kid is fast; and It didn’t seem as if Brock had an answer for that in his limited arsenol. Lesnar shows a solid chin and a gigantic heart in this loss. And I agree with Saenz: Lesnar is far from done– this loss will only prove to make him even more of a danger in the future. Congratulations to Cain Velasquez on becoming the first Mexican UFC Heaveyweight champion in the history of this organization!
There is still definitely a ton of interesting fights left for Lesnar, he is definitely going to get better all the time and is still very much relevant within the heavyweight division. Even the top pound for pound fighters do not have a perfectly unblemished record eg. Silva and Gsp. But Gsp did avenge the losses on his record to recapture his belt and if Lesnar can do the same to then it wasn’t all for not.
Congratulations Cain, What a show. truly impressed with this mans speed and yes he can take a punch/knee. However we all know their is no way Lesnar is done. This fight is going to guarantee many more great fights from both of these superstars. (Which im sure doesn’t bother Mr.Dana White LOL) Lesnar will get hurt bad b4 he will give ever give this up. He’s already proved what he’s about, Now he’s just got to improve a few techniches. Get it right guys, Mr Velasquez is the 1st. American Mexican. to win a heavy weight UFC championship. I believe he was born in CA.
This PPV really did save the best till Last, I was so Happy to see Cain Win and also see Brock lose graciously, but hopefully next time Brock saves his break dancing for another time, He was spinning like crazy, I hope to see Brock at the top again soon
Brock needs to get Greg Nelson back in his camp. He has looked bad since Greg left.
People that think Lesnar will quit don’t seem to really understand MMA. You win some, you lose some. Guys like Lesnar come back from defeat with a vengance.
@Mike Perryman
What exactly does his being Mexican have anything to do with it, were you giving props for Lesnar’s ethnicity when he won the belt for the first time? I doubt it!!!!
I’m sorry, I have got to say : I don’t agree with some of these reasons. The reason being :
1) Lesnar came in as a potential laden project. He has 3 things going for him, and one of them happens to be over powering strength. When it comes to side by side shots, he truly is a man amongst boys. But this isn’t strongman; its MMA. You have to use that to your advantage. Brock doesn’t.
2)not going to go near the PPV draw, because that is obvious. Lesnar got a cleared path to the top because of his name, its pretty simple. A guy like Bobby Lashley who had a comparable career to Lesnar in terms of wrestling (its absolutely true. both had world title runs, albeit Lashley did it when nobody was watching) has to fight his way into the UFC by winning TUF. Lesnar didn’t have to do that. His name alone sells PPV so no argument there.
3) 7 fights comes back to what i was saying before : Potential. Everybody knows this guy has the tools (Great Athleticism, Great Wrestling), but for people to christen this guy as one of, if not the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time was a joke. Let this guy win some more fights, gain some experience and then throw him in the talk with guys like Nog, Fedor, etc.
4) Totally disagree. Lesnar shows improvement on a fight by fight basis? come on, what were you watching in the Mir and Carwin fights? He did THE EXACT SAME THING. Only difference was that Carwin got tired and Mir got smothered. but he does the same thing : Bullrush and hope he gets a takedown. Then pray that unlike the Cain fight, the opponent gives up.
5) Nobody says he “can’t take a punch”. Its called “NOT BEING AFRAID OF ONE!” Lesnar clearly is. You take a look at a guy like Fedor, who in his prime would take shots from anybody (he got suplexed on his head by Kevin Randleman) and still submitted guys. Hell even when he fought Brett Rogers and got his nose broken, GNP’ed he didn’t flinch. Lesnar in the 2nd Mir fight got stunned by a big knee and had to regain himself before he finished Mir off, and in the Carwin and Cain fights all he did was turtle like a baby and prayed his opponent got gassed out. Only problem for him was, it didn’t happen when he fought Cain.
is Lesnar done? guess we’ll have to hear it from the horse’s mouth before we make our conclusions.
I bid you good day sir!