With the dominance of the Klitchsko brothers in the Russian Near East and Fyodorovich Emelianenko's lukewarm stand-off against White, Silva, and the Fertitta Brothers, an extra-sensory void is left in the historical body of American Combat Sports.
The average fight fan likes to watch "the little dudes" scrap and can hop behind a hometown favorite in an instant, but the fights that get jaws jabbing are the heavyweights: The biggest, strongest fighters in the world competing to build their legacies in the minds of athletes and viewers everywhere.
Weighing in at 265 pounds and standing 6'2", Brock Lesnar is the Achilles of UFC's heavyweight division, with dominant performances over Heath Herring and Randy Couture, and what some consider an upset loss to Frank Mir.
He's big, he's fast, and he claims he hasn't lost a fight since he was five years old.
Barring his exaggerated fight record, Lesnar's claims are true.
For his size he's incredibly fast, recording a 4.7 second 40 yard dash during his try-out with the Minnesota Vikings. It's also rumored that he cut his weight to 265 and is naturally in the 300-pound vicinity.
In his fights against Couture, Herring, and Mir, his right inside straight put them on their backs and caused a scramble where Lesnar posted his domineering frame in their half-guards and reigned with hammerpunches. Never before had any of these fighters been so easily dominated, except maybe Frank Mir.
Unlike Lesnar, who posted a 33-0-0 winning record his senior year of High School, Mir lost his first seven wrestling matches, but rebounded to become the 1998 Nevada State Wrestling Champion.
Soon after securing his wrestling accolades, Mir trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Roberto Pires, earning his black belt in five years, then submitted Roberto Travern, the 1999 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Open Weight Tournament Champion, in his UFC debut.
He subbed Travern via armbar in 1:05 seconds.
Few mixed martial artists bear the laurels Mir attained.
While Lesnar was arranged as the WWE champion at 25, Mir fought to be UFC Heavyweight Champion at 25, with one referee stoppage loss to Ian Freeman.
Both fighters have achieved considerable success in their respective careers, and although there's an inordinate reliance on Lesnar's athletic ability in the eyes of most spectators, it would be downright foolish to discredit Mir's knee-bar victory over Lesnar.
Both fighters tinge with borderline arrogance, Mir paying the price in conditioning and Lesnar paying the price by never humbling himself enough to know all the ins and outs of his game.
But what factors will make the difference at UFC 100 on July 11?
The key difference between Mir and Lesnar is fight intelligence.
As Lesnar grew up itching to fight and wanting to solidify his place at the top of any food chain, Mir grew up fighting, being trained in Kenpo Karate and pushed into wrestling by his father, training in Muay Thai Kickboxing, and attaining unparalleled submission success through his Jiu-Jitsu training.
In his early career, commentators described him as a "cerebral fighter," a strategic submission artist who could change a muddled mess on the ground into a statuesque arm-bar, shoulder crank, or kimura.
Furthermore, his striking has improved as a result of improved conditioning. Mir has long had the tools to knockout opponents, but has consistently lacked the lungs.
His second match against Wes Sims is nothing but a clobber-fest that ends with four clean strikes (two knees to the head, right hook, left straight) courtesy of Frank Mir.
Four years later in his match against Nogueria, Mir successfully refined his striking ability by comfortably finding his striking range.
Calm on his feet, calm on the ground; always a sure sign of winning ways for any fighter.
Unlike Mir, Lesnar is all brute, physical strength behind the brain of a bull.
In an interview with ESPN, Lesnar admits during his time at Minnesota Viking's training camp, he'd resort to fighting on the line when he couldn't execute a play.
His bull-in-a-china-shop mentality is reminiscent of Tank Abbott, who had no ground game and chose to rely on his heavy hands and steel jaw to win fights.
But where Abbot had no ground game, Lesnar does.
Lesnar's wrestling is proven given his ability to frustrate the balance of his opponents and his tendency to post up against fighters in the half-guard. What is most disconcerting is his defense.
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