UFC 141 Results: What Brock Lesnar Did Wrong Against Alistair Overeem

By now everyone has caught wind of Brock Lesnar's retirement from the UFC and MMA.

Following his dramatic loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 Saturday night, only 2:26 into Round 1, it seemed like the only fashionable thing to do.

But did Lesnar go too far, health aside?

It depends.  He was clearly outmatched from the start of the fight, and as it went on, it become more and more evident that the former UFC heavyweight champion may have came into the pay-per-view showdown with no structured game plan at all.

Lesnar rarely looked comfortable, evident by his six landed strikes.  He simply looked pedestrian at best, and failed to function with the predetermined skill set his wrestling background had equipped him with. 

Hardly the man-beast we've all grown accustomed to.

With that said, here are the main reasons why Lesnar was unable to inflict any damage on the superior Overeem.

4. He into the Fight with Retirement on His Mind

I'm sorry, but if you're coming into a UFC fight with the mindset of retiring within the next two fights, win or lose, you're not giving yourself the benefit of the doubt.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised somebody of Lesnar's competitive nature and hard-nosed character basically deemed himself retired before he ever touched gloves with Alistair Overeem.

If that's the kind of mental baggage you're bringing into a heavyweight clash with one of the best strikers in the world, you've lost before the fight has already begun.

Mentally, Lesnar never stood a chance.

3. Inability to Find His Range

Brock Lesnar never looked comfortable inside the cage with Alistair Overeem.

The only guy on the planet that makes Lesnar look like a smaller version of himself is, ironically, Overeem. 

All in all, the Dutchman's striking abilities proved too much for a power-based wrestler whose main attack was lunging punches.

Honestly, something looked out of place.  Like Tom Arnold trying out for the NBA.

The fact of the matter is that against a longer and more diversely skilled opponent, Lesnar needed to find his range early and often.  A good range will lead to takedown opportunities and potential clinch openings, but Lesnar never crossed that road.

His lack of consistency inside the Octagon enabled Overeem to reign in leg kicks, which made Lesnar look like less than a one-dimensional fighter.

If that's possible.

2. Didn't Shoot for Any Takedowns

Similar to the last slide, Brock Lesnar found it very difficult to commit to taking down Alistair Overeem.

Chalk it up to the lack of range established within the first two minutes of the bout, or Lesnar's cautious approach against one of the most decorated heavyweight strikers of all time. 

Whichever it is, Lesnar failed to score a single takedown on a kickboxer who "apparently" possessed little to no skills in the ground game, especially in the defensive department.

However, the only notion of a takedown came in the early portion of the fight, when Lesnar grabbed one of Overeem's legs with both hands.  To no avail.  The K-1 Champion shrugged off the attempt and simply continued on his way.

Despite his efforts, Overeem's strength and size proved to detrimental to anything Lesnar tried to do, including covering up his own stomach.

1. Underestimated Overeem's Kickboxing

The biggest flaw made by Brock Lesnar Saturday night was underestimating Alistair Overeem's kickboxing.

I can't say it enough.

I don't know if Lesnar thought his size and wrestling would cancel out the kicking ability of a 6'5" world champion, but it didn't seem to work.

Overeem literally bashed Lesnar's abdomen into retirement, landing nasty body kick after nasty body kick.

Lesnar's efforts and lack of knowledge of Overeem's game resulted in one of the worst one-sided heavyweight beatdowns in a while, especially a PPV headliner as hyped as this one.

All I know is that for anyone facing Overeem in the future, I dare you to take a look at Lesnar's stomach and tell me you're not revolving your entire game plan around Overeem's world-class kickboxing.

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