Brock Lesnar will be fighting Frank Mir at UFC 81: Breaking Point, on Superbowl weekend. This is clearly an intriguing matchup, as Lesnar's strength is grappling and Mir's is ground submission.
Lesnar finished his amateur wrestling career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Champion, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion with a record of 106-5 overall in four years of college.
This guy is clearly no joke.
But how serious are his mixed martial arts skills? In his first official MMA match, Brock defeated Min Soo Kim by submission (via strikes) in just more than one minute. Unfortunately, Min Soo Kim is not exactly top competition. Lesnar was dominant, but that was largely thanks to his wrestling technique. Many see Lesnar as the next UFC Heavyweight champ, but I plead you all to wait until he fights someone with ground skills before you give him the belt.
It will also be interesting to see how Lesnar deals with the UFC's illegal substance policy. In January 2001, Lesnar was arrested for receiving a large amount of steroids. The charges were later dropped when it was discovered that the illicit substance was, in fact, growth hormones.
Lesnar is a physical specimen with ridiculous wrestling skills. We have seen how effective fighters can be with a predominant wrestling background (Matt Hughes, Randy Couture) but it should be interesting to see how he can take a punch from a striker, which probably has not happened to him yet.
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6 months ago
You commented on the UFC's illegal substance policy...they don't really have one. All of MMA regulations come from the independent state athletic committees and Brock Lesnar already passed the California State Athletic Committee's drug testing (California has the strictest testing policy) in his first MMA fight so I seriously doubt Lesnar would fail one.
Also, Min Soo Kim and Lesnar was a good match up since they're both beginners in the MMA realm but Kim was a Judo Olympic Silver Medalist while Lesnar was just a NCAA Champ.
6 months ago
Yes, Brock did previously pass the drug test. Don't forget though that Sean Sherk also passed it at one point (albeit Nevada's and not California's).
And Min Soo Kim was a good matchup since they were both beginners, but he was a brutal matchup considering the hype around Lesnar, as well as Lesnar's wrestling prowess.
6 months ago
Yes, Lesnar had great wrestling prowess but Kim's Judo skills is even better in terms of ability. As I said before, one was a national champ and the other was an Olympic medalist...there's just a huge difference between a national championship and an Olympic medal.
6 months ago
Regardless of his judo skill, just by watching the fight, you can see that the two fighters aren't even comparable in terms of athletic ability. I still say it was a bad matchup.
6 months ago
brock lesnar is a joke. grrrr i take steroids. grrr ill take on anybody. watch him get his arm broken like sylvia's. hahahahaha, the WWE, hahahahaha
6 months ago
Although I don't see him winning against Mir, I would hardly say that Lesnar is a joke.
And sure, being in the WWE would tarnish his respectability from some people, but he's still one hell of a wrestler.
6 months ago
watch the Nogueira vs sapp fight from pride. then tell me this "animal will do good"(seriously irie you are making it hard to keep coming back to this site, you NEED to stop writing and commenting)
6 months ago
Hater - a loser who enjoys putting down guys who've accomplished more, usually becuase of jealousy.
Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar were both top ranked NCAA wrestlers who never went to the Olympics. Brock Lesnar actually won the NCAA D1 championship, while the Randy Couture was only runner up in two runs. If Randy can learn striking and start competing in MMA at 34 years of age, why can't Brock do it at 29? Brock went into the WWE because he had to make a living, idiot, and the WWE gave him the most lucrative path.
If you feel entitled to spout crap about a NCAA D1 wrestling champion, let's hear what your athletic accomplishments are and why you feel you have the standing to say Brock Lesnar is a joke.
from 5 months ago
I for one would like to see this site force people that want to comment to get a username. People like this come out of the woodwork and post anonymous hate on people's articles. It's retarded. Show some respect. There's room for disagreement without being 'jealous'. I also wonder if Lesnar can make the transition. The sport is different than when Randy entered it ten years ago. One-dimentional fighters don't fare as well as they used to. He's got some big advantages coming in - no pun intended - but it's certainly open for debate whether it'll be enough.
5 months ago
my comment was referring to the ridiculous comments by george above me, not to the article. george's comments:
"brock lesnar is a joke. grrrr i take steroids. grrr ill take on anybody. watch him get his arm broken like sylvia's. hahahahaha, the WWE, hahahahaha"
"watch the Nogueira vs sapp fight from pride. then tell me this "animal will do good"(seriously irie you are making it hard to keep coming back to this site, you NEED to stop writing and commenting)"
i've never posted a comment before, but george was just being disrespectful. whether I post anonymously or with a first name that's shared by millions of other people makes no difference. get over yourself.
5 months ago
well now im just confused, oh well. your point is still not valid, whoever you are. lets just wait till mir breaks his arm or jaw, then you can tell me how lucrative it is for lesnar. no turnbuckles here bitches!
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