Brock Lesnar: UFC Heavyweight Champion [Editorial]
UFC 91 is in the books and before I even get into the main event, I would be remiss if I did not comment on the hustle and flow of the pay-per-view as a whole. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen every single fight of the night on the telecast before, but I’m not about to complain about it. Whether it was to make a good impression on ESPN or just a matter of the UFC having their business together, UFC 91 delivered in the face of a lot of hype and a seemingly underwhelming undercard. Let’s get to it.
Brock Lesnar is your Heavyweight champion. It still feels odd and unnatural to utter such a phrase without the letters WWE involved, but it’s true nonetheless. However, let us not take anything away from the achievement Lesnar made this evening. With only three fights under his belt and the added stigma of the pro-wrestling crossover, Lesnar came up big defeating a dual weight class champion and true master of the sport. Given, Lesnar is a genetic anomaly and Randy Couture is now 45 years old, but there were still many who gave Lesnar little to no chance in his most recent obstacle. There were many who said that Couture could not be caught with one of Lesnar’s big, slow punches- they were wrong. There were many who said that Couture could get Lesnar down and keep him down- they were wrong. And there were plenty who said that Brock Lesnar, who tapped from a knee-bar only a few months back, could simply not hold his own with someone as tactical and dangerous as Randy Couture- they were very wrong.
Like many throughout the blogosphere, I picked Lesnar on paper but rooted for Couture in my heart. Lesnar did earn me the right to gloat a little bit about my prediction (though I called it for the third, not second round) but like most MMA diehards, I am still a bit disappointed that Captain America could not pull off the big upset victory this time around. But everyone has their time, and Couture has certainly had his. His defeat tonight could never negate any of his legendary achievements. Even if Couture walked away from the sport tomorrow, there wouldn’t be any shame in going out on a loss to someone as gifted as Lesnar.
Whether you were rooting for Couture or Lesnar tonight, two key questions are at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Can Lesnar defeat the winner of Mir vs. Nogueira, and will Randy Couture be back yet again? (and if so, at what weight class?)
Personally, I’m hoping Randy returns to mix things up in the LHW order. I think that would create a lot of really interesting match ups at 205lbs, and that The Natural could still pose a threat to several of the UFC’s top ten light-heavyweights.
So, can Brock Lesnar come up big against Nogueira or in a rematch with Mir? I say Brock can handle another date with Frank Mir, but would have to be on his absolute best behavior to hang with the likes of “Minotauro.” Brock’s sheer size will help him avoid the early submission attempts, but Nogueira has more than proved how absurdly difficult he is to finish and after five rounds, I find it hard to believe that Brock could come out of the cage without his arm in a sling. Only time will tell…
In other news…
Demian Maia and Kenny Florian are simply on a different level. Kenny has definitely earned his second shot at a lightweight title, but he will have to wait with zen-like patience thanks to the epic Penn-St. Pierre 2 at UFC 94. Of course there is the possibility that Penn beats St.Pierre and decides to hang around welterweight for a while, but that’s neither here nor there, yet….
As for Maia, this guy needs serious competition like a fat kid at a bake sale needs a quarter. I don’t want to say that Maia should get a crack at Silva just yet, but he isn’t too far off either. I’d love to see Maia tangle with Nate Marquardt, Thales Leites, Yushin Okami, or even the newly acquired Denis Kang. If he mops the floor with any of those fellas I say let him have at The Spider.
Gabriel Gonzaga proved he is still a very good fighter, I just don’t know where all this title contention talk is coming from. Gonzaga can probably pick up a UFC paycheck for a long time thanks to the slim pickens that is the heavyweight division, but I don’t see him ever being a real contender for the title again, let alone capturing one. Sorry, but wins over Justin McCully and a sloppy journeyman just aren’t convincing me.
Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett was an absolute terror for Tamdan McCrory to handle. Hazelett continues to impress with yet another brilliant submission (which won yet another submission of the night bonus), but can he break into the top ten? Dustin came up short against Josh Koscheck at UFC 82, but I think a match with everyone’s favorite gatekeeper Chris Lytle might just be in order. Though Lytle is fighting Marcus Davis at UFC 93 so maybe McLovin gets the winner of that one? A bold, yet cool move would be to see how Hazelett fairs against a Diego Sanchez or Karo Parisyan. Hey, it could happen.
Jeremy Stephens’ uppercut from hell was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen on television. It briefly reminded me of Chuck Liddell’s glory days when all he did was execute fools with ridiculously cranked up bombs; I almost forgot how much damage those things did to people.
Aaron Riley vs. Jorge Gurgel has to earn fight of the night honors. It just has to. That’s all I have to say about that.
Lastly, for those who still weren’t certain, let it be known that Couture vs. Fedor is officially dead in the water. It ain’t happening. No way. Though I suspect sometime in the near future chatter will inevitably begin about Brock vs. Fedor. Ahh, gossip.
Unrelated note: Hey, obnoxious guys at the bar wearing skin tight Affliction shirts and sporting blowout haircuts with line-beards: It still isn’t cool. No matter how many times you tell your buddies how well you would do if you were a fighter, you are still not a hard ass for wearing an overpriced skeleton tee and putting your friends in various choke holds. Sorry fellas. Though I’m sure the bartenders really dig it.
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LMFAO.. that last part is gold
That guy was at your show too? Man, douchebags like that must be more common than we all thought.
On paper, this didn’t seem like it was that solid a ppv, but turned out to set a really high standard. While I’m not looking forward to spending the noney on all the ppvs in the next couple of months, I can only hope they live up to this one. PPV of the year, anyone?
Am I crazy for remembering this, or did Gonzaga used to fight at a weight closer to 230 earlier? I was trying to remember this with my brother and we couldn’t come up with a reliable answer. He is proof of the lack of depth that is afflicting (sorry Dana, I won’t use that word again) the heavyweight division. We need a season of TUF to put a little bit of depth in there.
hey Eric…i’m a bartender, and no, we don’t dig it…we just wish these guys would pay for their bacardi breezers or smirnoff ice, and split. nice column.
Great night, although I was hoping Randy could pull it out. Lesnar is just so much bigger and younger that Randy had to go all 25 minutes without taking a solid shot to the head. One mistake was all it takes against someone that much bigger than you. I love the way Randy controlled him up against the fence though… amazing at his age and size.
The other fights were awesome too! That stand ups were intense and the ground game was technically amazing. Even though I’m a big fan, Kenny Florian always surprises me. I thought Joe would over power him on the ground, but Kenny just strangled him like a boa constrictor. Wow.
I think the reason we saw all the fights on the card was because only 1 fight went to decision.
Good luck to Randy droping down to claim the LHW crown from Evans
good column, although i think i would give gonzaga a little more credit. I actually think that guy would be a good matchup for brock cuz he’s a huge dude that can strike and has a good ground game. i don’t see any lw’s beating brock unless they’re at least 240. i thought randy was gonna win until i saw them side by side, he’s just too big for those guys fighting at like 220-225. i think if someone’s gonna beat him, its nog, maybe gonzaga. after all, his only loss was to mir/mazzagati which prolly weighed in around 400 combined.
great card!
on my ufc fantasy i predicted everything right in regards to brock n couture…except the round!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it was a great fight…i think brock proved that he is a legit force in the hw division…his take down defense was great…
i actually thought that brock couldn’t take a hit…and figured that if randy got him good he would knock brock out…but brock took a couple and showed no sign of being “knocked out!”…nog n mir better hope they dont have to fight him…especially if brock gets some work in on his subs…
and just a though…don’t you guys think that brocks nickname should be BROCK “THE OX” LESNAR! HAHA
he needs one!!
Eye, that’s kinda good imo
Last night was fun and a good time forsure
Side note Fedor got a Bronze in Sambo
Brock’s nickname at the U was ‘the rock’.
Great ppv, finally in 2008. Well worth the purchase.
Gonzaga vs. Brock would make a great main event. But I think Big Nog needs to beat Mir, then he should take on Brock to unite the title. Brock may not make it past Big Nog.
My question is who will Randy fight next? He recently signed a 3 fight deal. So he’s got 2 more. Will he stay at heavyweight? I’d like to see him fight Wanderli Silva, Rampage Jackson, or maybe Anderson Silva at 205.
whos would be next for lesnar? maybe the guy who knocked out werdum? i hope gonzaga comes back up. hes gain alot of muscle wieght i thinks he would last good with lesnar. and i want kenflo to beat bj. i was so suprised whn kenflo won submission. thought it would be longer and harder for him. i think he has a good shot with bj!
ufc fan, i agree that kenflo’s skills are getting ridiculously good. i don’t think he’ll beat bj, but he’s probably the only 155er that i would say has a decent shot, especially after the performance last nite. i think it’ll all come down to what bj shows up. if it’s the new and improved bj, i don’t see anyone takin him. it’s gonna be a hell of a fight though.
aww kris come on no mention of dean lister…come on you know that would be a sick match….two great grapplers….as long as lister can pull off the upset over okami lister/maia is the future i tell you the future !
I have a real hard time when I guy can way 50 pounds more than his opponent at fight time and call it a fair fight. I felt the same way with Brock’s fight with Mir and Herring. It isn’t that impressive when you win and your’re carrying 50 extra pounds. For Lesnar’s next fight, Bruce Buffer should say “this man is hammer fist specialist.” Not impressed yet.
ERIC…
that is a lame excuse!
i’m tired of people complaining about people being too big and things not being fair!
stupid comments like that take so much credit away from the athlete…
shaq weighs more than every single one of his counterparts, are you saying that you are not impressed by his record of accomplishments???
Randy knew coming into this fight that brock was going to weigh a whole lot more than himself…and he didn’t complain about it..soo why should you??
and i can understand if brock layed on randy for 5 rounds, but that was not the case, brock knocked randy out!!!!!!!!! that has nothing to do with how much he weighs…give the man some credit! brock was blessed with a physical stature that many meny strive for, it is not his fault he has an advantage over all his opponents…and it is not like his opp do not have the oppprtunity to put on more weight…randy chose to fight @ 220…there is no rule that states “only brock can fight at 265+ and all his opponents must way less”…brock is smart and chooses to fight @ the maximum weight allowed…and it has proven to be a great strategy! and his opp have that exact same option…and they choose not to exercise the right…come on foo dont take anything away from brock…
Another great article. Loved the end there. I really want to see Marquardt vs. Maia and hazlett vs. Karo those would be great match-ups. I hate to agree about Gonzaga but it is true the guy has been on the edge of being cut a lot in his UFC stay but always pulls himself out of the fire w/ a highlight reel sub or KO. If he beat Mir, Los Santos, or someone like that I’d consider him a #1 contender but he has not shown he can do that yet.
UFC fan- I think Los Santos will have to fight his way up through guys like Velazquez, Carwin, Gonzaga, Mir, and (doubtful, cause they’re same camp) big Nog. I don’t think he’ll be fast tracked b/c he doesn’t have the marketability of Lesnar…yet. Give him a few more solid fighters and then see where he ends up. He has any more KO’s like what he did to Werdum and he’ll be up there quickly!
Eric- that is the issue of all sports where you have to cut and make weight like boxing, MMA, and especially college and olympic wrestling. It will always be there. However, I know in college they have same day weigh-ins(yeah those made life suck) at a lot of tournaments and duals but I doubt you’ll ever see that happen in big money MMA. Guys like Anderson, Chuck, Lesnar, alves, Rampageand BJ(don’t forget Carano’s issues in the women’s division) would struggle if they had to fight the same day as weigh-ins. the only reason it’s more of an issue at Heavyweight is because the range is larger.(better than college wrestling though it goes from 197-285).
oh and as a conversational point…would anybody else like to see Vera and Couture mix it up at LH? I think it’d be a interesting match-up. Also if Dana was trying to fire up Vera and get him back to his old self…why not Couture? If you can’t get up for that you don’t have a pulse!
couture would dominate vera….i dont know why but vera just has no heart for the sport anymore…and a fight against keith jardine should have been spark enough to light the fire..but all he does is trash talk…he needs to learn some respect and find his heart because a fighter without a heart is never going to be a champion..but couture i think is a bad match up for vera…couture could easily wrestle him to the ground and gnp him to a tko…i say put vera against a can in his next couple fights build him up and build his heart up..but i just dont ever see vera being a contender ever and i think he is 1 or 2 loses away from being knock’d out of the ufc..
I agree with you Gunslinger I’m just saying I think Vera is less than one loss away from being released from the UFC. I think if he doesn’t put on an exciting or at least a nice KO(there IS a difference watch the old Gonzaga…guy would bore me to tears and then boom fight over) he’s out of the UFC. You could tell White was tired of it when he publicly calls out a guy like he did TWICE. I’m just saying that sometimes when you present a guy like Vera with a challenge, like facing a dominant wrestler and GnP guy like Couture, he’s either going to rise up to it and try to overcome it or he’s just going to essentially give up and either way you have your answer. If Couture dominates him awesome Vera is out and then Couture can mess up the LHW order. If Vera steps up and puts on a good fight then it’s good for Vera. The point is mute if Randy stays at the easier division though.
Gunslinger- If Lister gets through Okami that would indeed be the match to see. Though Okami is no walk in the park, and I think I would have to give him the slight advantage going into the bout with Lister.
Slight advantage? Okami by a landslide. Lister has shown me nothing except defeating a washed-up, Jeremy Horn. Lister is definetly one of the more boring fighters around imo.
I’m glad this is a place where “stupid comments” aren’t aloud. Thanks but no thanks.
allowed, sorry. Another “stupid comment.”
Congrats to brock can’t say I didn’t c that coming it was like randy was fighting a 15 year younger version of himself with 70 lbs of muscle added couture is still the man though great heart. I am gunna have to agree that ken flo is the top contender but would get handled by penn don’t think it would be close lol. I heard that the ufc was going for lawler the addition of him and chael sonnen is great for the middleweight division but I agree hw needs some work. I say mir vs lesner 2 and who knows who will get the winner of that fight.
landslide…lister has lost once in the ufc and that was a close split decision to marquardt…okami does have the advantage but if it goes to the ground..dont count out lister…and submitting jeremy horn is a big accomplishment…he may be washed up in mma but he is still a premier grappler..i dont know but im a huge boogeyman fan and im feeling an upset…i just wanna see a crazy jits match between lister and maia it would be like a dream fight to me…just like nog and mir..i actually want that fight to be on the ground the whole time.
i dont know rudeone i just dont see mir beating nog….but im telling you if carwin keeps winning carwin vs lesnar is gnna be sick….like king kong vs godzilla….i mean there like the exact same person except…brock is a little faster and carwin has better boxing/mma skill
True story gunslinger those would be some big boys throwing down good call on the bjj matches it pisses me off when people say those fights are boring it is crazy watching to good submission artists go back and forth. I don’t care what neone says submiting horn is an amazing feat can’t wait for the up and coming fights.
I too would like to see Lister and Maia go at it, but I think Maia would get the win.
Eric Shapiro,
Nice article, thanks for putting that together for us.
The other Eric,
No one (that I saw, maybe something got deleted before I read this) said you had a stupid comment. However, I do agree that you can’t say “Its not fair for a guy to have that big of a weight advantage.” Like Eye – Rhyme said, they know the rules when they agree to the fight, and that have the opportunity to try to bulk up if they want to. Randy had something like 400 days since his last fight, he could have spent some of that time putting on some muscle, knowing that when he came back he’d be fighting at heavy weight, but he chose not to. I do think it might be nice to see a 225 weight class personally, but I think that would get rid of the depth at 205, and make HW even more shallow, so its not a really a good idea. It would make more sense to move MW to 190, WW to 175, and then add a 165, and keep 155 to spread out some of the depth at LW.
Last night was a hell of a time on many levels
For Dbiz I got hit by that bourbon backfist saw it coming the entire time just forgot to duck, got staggered yet I regained my focus and control came back strong for the win…
I went 4~4 with my picks (didn’t pick the Randy/Lesnar fight just wanted to be entertaind and I was)… I found myself forgetting about my picks and such and just truly enjoying UFC 91.. I had a few “new” MMA fans (well they are turning into fans) over at my house and the all went absolutly ape shh over McLovin (one stated “look at this little guy, little dork he doesn’t look focused at all I bet he gets his asss kicked”, I said”I have $20 on McLovin” he responded with “no doubt” we shook on it and it began… When McLovin put his sub together and pulled it off my buddy said “that’s the baddest F~ing dork I’ve ever seen, here’s your $20″… Sooo I guess I took advantage of him but whatever he never pitches in ever soo its all good
Hendricks isn’t going to be in the UFC much longer imo
Grugel use your F~ing jitz would ya
Seriously it was a absolutly great card I’m already pumped for 92, Dec is going to be a great end to the 2008 year, fight for the troops, TUF finale, and UFC 92 very good end imo
O and as far as Lesnar being one of two HW champs good for him he beat the champ it is what it is he does have to beat Big Nog/Mir winner to be the “true champ” that’s far away… Couture will go down to LHW imo mostlikely fight Vera,Jardine,Liddell (again) ect anyways I’m going to watch UFC 91 again because it was sooo enjoyable the first time gotta love the dvr
justin- always a pleasure my friend.
“For Dbiz I got hit by that bourbon backfist saw it coming the entire time just forgot to duck, got staggered yet I regained my focus and control came back strong for the win…”
I fared pretty well against the guacamoleplata but couldn’t crack the waitress’s takedown defense, as I predicted. Others at my table were able to down and pound the beers well, but were medically suspended the next morning.
MAIA VS. BISPING….i’d love to see the count get choked out or his arm broken!!!
FR,
For sure just sat back and enjoyed a great night of fights, really likely to watch them again, still on the DVR at this point. You did take that guy for a ride on the McLovin bet, but if he usually doesn’t pay his part to chip in, it’s all good.
I was screaming at Gurgel to get a take down. If he taught McLovin what he knows, which he did, he should be able to get highlight reel subs as well, but he is totally uninterested. I think he may be sent from the UFC if he doesn’t use his jits soon. As Rogan said, it was Gurgel’s jits that got him there in the first place, and now he doesn’t use it. Definitely looking forward to next month.
DBiz,
LOL @ medically suspended. Were you the DD, asking based on that you said others were doing the down and pound?
Justin, I just downed and pounded a little less. No one refused a challenge, even though some of us are very close friends with our liquid opponents. Anderson Silva could learn a lot from our dedication.
Haha, gotcha.
Hey… I resemble that medically suspended comment…
That waitress’ take down defense was superb. Nothing seemed to phase her in the least. For the next one, you’ll have to work your chloroform takedowns instead. Of course, not being seen with such lame-asses would probably help too…
Gunslinger- I went ahead and re-watched all the Lister fights I had on my comp and I have to agree with a fight between him and Maia is perfect for hardcore fans. I don’t think a lot of the uneducated or fans unfamiliar with submission grappling will appreciate it but as a SAMBO practitioner myself I would love to see that match-up.
As far as Mir vs. Nog how funny would it be if Big Nog won on his boxing? I get the feeling that fight will see a lot of stalemates because they both have so many BJJ skills they may cancel each other out on the ground. I easily see that fight going the full time…which leads me to a question…Since Brock won the title(I feel weird saying that so early in his career) does that erase the Big Nog’s interim status since it was due to Couture’s absence? If so will Mir-Nog be 3×5 or 5×5? I’ve followed the sport since the beginning and have never seen a situation like this, usually the first fight for a champion coming back is the interim champ(i.e. Penn-Sherk, GSP-Serra) so this is a first that I know of.
The fight will be 5×5 because it is a championship fight. Even if it is an interim championship. That winner will face a 5×5 fight with Lesnar to unify both the Interim and Full titles. It will be an interesting fight though as far as Mir and Nog. I am really looking forward to it.
the whole interim champion thing has to stop ….. makes things like boxing … lets just have a UFC and a UFA champion ala wba/wbc and then keep adding belts until the whole thing goes stale . I will always fondly look back at the origional UFC as the true fighting championship …. wonder if we took the top 16 fighters in the world and did the origional rules ..who comes out on top ? It wouldnt be Penn ..or GSP or Lesnar or hughes or ….. It may surprise us to see who really is the best …. weight classes dont apply in REAL fights ….
Yeah I knew any fight with Lesnar would be 5×5 (since he’s the official champ) but wasn’t sure how it’d work for Mir-Nog. I’m glad it’s 5×5 though even though I have a feeling it’ll be broken up several times on the ground due to stalemates.
DBiz, that is too funny I understand completly….
Justin, the McLovin take was well a simple deal for me, he is a good friend of mine and is starting to get into MMA but he is cheap as a MF~er, yet he will make random bets on shhh he has no clue about but whatever….. Ya Gurgel he just confuses me so much, ok he like to brawl, yet that doesnt mean just stop using BJJ i dunno, awesome fights and quite a show put on by all…
It is bizarre to see a guy who awarded Dustin a JJ black belt come out and brawl stand up only. “Gurggle” did have improved kicks i guess but why not practise what you preach.
Dude, I have been ordering UFC’s since 57 with Couture/Liddell. I have to say, that was by far one of the best. I hear some complete idiots out there criticizing the UFC because their Main Events were ending in the first round. What the hell? They said they were having problems filling the 3 hours which is just “special”. Yeah I dont think they have that much of a problem. This is the first UFC in which I’ve seen them show every fight. The only one I can remember andd there were probably a couple more in there was Hughes/Gracie which showed all except for one. Big Kudos to the UFC. Though there have been great fight cards I feel that Saturday Night I really got my moneys worth. I just hope this wasn’t a one night thing. Couldv’e done without 50 Cent’s completely oblivious interview not knowing what the hell he was talking about. That was embarassing. Though I did like the highlights package mixed with the music that was cool they should do that more often. 50 said I pick Brock because during the interview he looked humble. Guess you’ve never seen any of the other interviews in which he been cocky as hell. But to sum it up. BIG BIG THANK YOU to the UFC for money well spent.
Just like to clear this up in my previous statement I said Brock was cocky. Guess they blurred it out cause it has cock in it. In case they did it again I said c o c k y.
I’ve thought that about Gurgel since I first saw him fight…he’s such a wiz in BJJ but doesn’t use it in fights it seems.
Yes Brock would get it handed to him by the likes of shane carwin…thats why the ufc did not schedule brock and shane to fight…they didnt wanna see big boy Brock lose to the likes of little unknown Carwin. How did Brock even get to a title fight? He only won against Heath Herring then he gets a title shot…what the hell? Mir beat him once and Lesnar gets the belt W.T.F !?! As for a great fight I would love to see Maia and Thales fight…match up Nate the Great and Kang and then we will see some awesome matchups…Get the winner of each to fight each other then hello here comes a title shot date with the Spider..
i cant wait for denis kangs fight…i used to love watching denis and i think he is gonna easily be a contender at 185
lesnar is an animal, he was awsum at wwe now he is in mma, he is even betta. he deserves the hw title