Brock Lesnar, Pro Wrestling and No Emelianenko: Things Wrong With The UFC

(Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

As I stand and scope the great nation that is UFC in the world of MMA, I see some things that worry me about it and what they mean for the future of the sport.  The rise of Brock Lesnar as champion is only the surface of a disturbing pattern that seems to be emerging here that could compromise a whole weight division in the UFC.  Cracks are beginning to emerge in Dana White’s suit of invincibility and all knowing when it comes to running the promotion.  Here are but a few suggestions from a humble servant in where things are going wrong.

     
Please don’t let Lesnar turn the sport into a real life Pro Wrestling.  Growing up, I was a huge fan of wrestling, huge.   My walls were covered in posters and pictures of my heroes like Ric Flair, Sting, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, the Von Erich Family and a plethora of other pro wrestlers.  I would make my father drive hours from our remote (at the time) Texas border town to see the handful of shows that came within a day’s driving distance or drive across the border to Mexico to some dingy arena to see the high flying action.  As I got older and began to realize that wrestling was scripted  (I don’t like the term fake, because after talking to a few wrestlers I realize the tremendous amount of damage these men inflict on their bodies) the love affair began to wane.  It just wasn’t the same.  Granted, I never lost all my affection for it, still to this day I carry fond memories and a love of my childhood heroes, like when I wailed like a baby hearing Kevin Von Erich’s heart wrenching story of the demise of 4 of his brothers in a documentary I was watching. 

Having gotten that out of the way, I hate the direction wrestling has taken in the last few years.  Gone is the emphasis on skill and athleticism, having being replaced by cheap thrills and controversy.  Sadly this had made wrestling the financial behemoth it is today, and Dana White wants in on some of that action.  This baffles me to no end, because White is the guy who so skillfully rescued the sport from going under.  He took over a promotion that had basically dragged itself into the realm of cock fighting, bull baiting and hobo boxing and other sports that immediately sparked outrage and indignation in most of society.  I mean White is the guy who gave the UFC the credibility it has as a sport today, the guy who got John McCain, who tried to have the sport banned, into admitting it was a legitimate athletic competition now.  So why take all that hard work and cheapen it?   Let the sport grow on its own, create your own new fans, promote it by creating a safer form of it so it can it can be included at the high school and college level, but do not just give in and package it so it appeals to the lowest common denominator.  Brock Lesnar is the epitome of all this movement.   He is hugely popular because of his pro wrestling tie and if you saw his last fight, is trying to bring the pro wresting attitude into the UFC, something that is starting to seep into the fan base.

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