Brock Lesnar Focusing on Being Well-Rounded

From MMAMadness.com: Brock Lesnar dominated for all but 10 seconds of his UFC debut. The only problem is, those 10 seconds were all it took to lose the fight.

In those 10 seconds, Lesnar left his leg exposed. Frank Mir capitalized, locking in a kneebar and forcing Lesnar to tap.

Fast forward a year and a half, and Lesnar is preparing to face Mir once again. Despite their first fight lasting just 90 seconds, Lesnar learned plenty about his opponent.

Going into the fight, Lesnar’s approach is a simple one.

“[I’m working on] not giving him any limbs to snap,” Lesnar told MMAMadness.com.

Watching Lesnar fight has become a lesson in fighter evolution. After the loss to Mir, in which he looked hectic and over-excited, Lesnar showed a much more patient and calculated approach in a dominant decision victory over Heath Herring.

Next, Lesnar showed an improved stand-up game, knocking down and pounding out Randy Couture to claim the UFC Heavyweight belt.

With six-plus months to prepare for Mir, Lesnar has focused on improving his Jiu-Jitsu game.

“I’m bringing a lot of Jiu Jitsu guys in. Two Brazilians that I can’t pronounce their names right now,” Lesnar said.

While fans should not expect to see Lesnar showcase a repertoire of flashy submissions, they should expect to see him safer in the ground. In Jiu-Jitsu, students learn proper position control and submission defense before moving on to the complexities of submission offense.

The combination of submission defense and Lesnar’s size, strength, and wrestling abilities, could spell trouble for Mir. Reports out of Lesnar’s camp are that his boxing has improved significantly since the Couture fight, and his National Champion wrestling abilities make it unlikely that Mir will outwrestle Lesnar.

That leaves submissions as Mir’s only significant advantage, an advantage that Lesnar has been working tirelessly to nullify.

Next Saturday, fans will see if Lesnar’s work will pay off. What fans can be sure of is that a big part of Lesnar’s game is already on display; his confidence.

“I’m just trying to do the right things and end this fight like it should have been ended the first time,” Lesnar said.

If all goes right, that ten second window from last fight will be slammed shut.

Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. He can be reached for questions and comments at [e-mail].