UFC 87 Seek and Destroy: Brock Lesnar Destroys Heath Herring

            This past weekend’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy involved some great fights across the board. It was great to see George St. Pierre defend his title and the sportsmanship between him and Fitch was great. Fitch although sorely outmatched showed he had a strong chin and is tough as nails. Maia vs. McDonald was great, watching a fellow Canadian fend off a rear naked choke for the last 45 seconds of round 1 was amazing. Maia was the better fighter, but the match was very entertaining. The co-main event was Lesnar vs. Herring, much hype was built around this fight, but it didn’t live up to it’s expectations simply because of how one sided the fight was. What the Lesnar vs. Herring fight did show is that Lesnar is a legitimate heavy weight and that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Sport of MMA.

            It was a bit of a disppointment with the ending of the match between Lesnar and Herring when Brock laughed at his opponent and pretended to lasso and reel him in. That being said Herring talked a lot prior to the match, even arguing with Dana White stating he was tired of being matched up against weak low quality opponents like Brock Lesnar. Also this being Lesnar’s first win in UFC and the fact that there were and still are many doubters meant Lesnar had a lot to prove. I would expect that in his next couple fights we can expect his showmanship to disappear unless White and the UFC want another Tito Ortiz type personality in the league.

            What can be observed of many MMA followers after Saturday night’s fight between Lesnar and Herring is there are still a lot of doubters. Fans who stated Lesnar would have his hands full with Herring are now saying Herring was Lesnar’s perfect match and he needs to face a fighter like Fedor or Nogueira to put him in his place. Another criticism that has arisen is that Lesnar is a one dimensional fighter with no stand up skill or submission abilities.

            Agreed the match Lesnar fought was a little bit boring with the exception of the opening seconds and the take downs. However, Lesnar came in with a game plan and executed. Brock did not want to get caught with a submission like he did against Mir and he didn’t want to get knocked out. So he avoided this by taking the fight to the ground and using his unmatched athleticism and wrestling ability to control Herring while throwing in some devastating knees and hammer fists. It made the fight a little dull, but it was an effective game plan for Lesnar and not much different then how Couture uses the clinch up against the cage and dirty boxing to control his opponents through out the match.

            Lesnar definitely relies heavily on his wrestling skills and he does look like a one dimensional fighter at the moment. That being said Brock Lesnar in his first two heavy weight bouts in the UFC has knocked down each fighter with one punch to the face. If anyone would have looked at Heath Herring’s left eye after the first round, they would be hard pressed to say that Lesnar does not know how to throw a punch. What was further proved in last night’s fight and his fight against Mir is not only are his hands heavy, but they are extremely quick. Anyone who can knock down a top MMA heavy weight veteran on their first punch by directly connecting with their chin shows that they have speed and weight in their hands.

            Brock’s submission game is lacking and that was evident by the fact that even though Brock dominated Heath on the ground, he never managed to finish the fight with a submission. A fighter like Nogueira or Frank Mir would have been able to submit a fighter had they been able to get the positioning Lesnar had on Herring all fight last night. Granted, fighters like Frank Mir or Nogueira have to work much harder then Lesnar to try and get into the positions Lesnar had on Herring in UFC 87.

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