Brock Lesnar Gives UFC The "Bad Guy" It Needs

Dana White is in Las Vegas smiling from ear to ear. They say Las Vegas is the best place to gamble and White did just that in bringing Brock Lesnar into his organization. I've been an MMA fan since about UFC 74 when a couple of college buddies turned me on to the sport. The fight between Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck got me hooked on MMA.

But before that, like most red-blooded American boys, I was a fan of the WWF. I grew up watching guys like Hulk Hogan, Bret "Hitman" Hart, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. I did see a little bit of Brock Lesnar's WWF career, it was just before I stopped watching pro-wrestling completely.

All I really remembered was that the guy was a freakishly large monster. I even remember around the time Lesnar was in the WWF, ESPN Classic would replay his NCAA Heavyweight Championship matches from when he wrestled for the Golden Gophers of University of Minnesota.

To even garner a scholarship to a powerhouse wrestling school like Minnesota proves how good of an athlete he is. Guys like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz wrestled for much smaller schools like Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield.

I couldn't really put my finger on it, but Lesnar always fascinated me. I remember he left Pro-Wrestling in the prime of his career to dabble in the NFL. If I remember correctly, he played preseason for the Minnesota Vikings one year before getting cut.

In my opinion, this only further proves how great of an athlete he is. This is intriguing to me because Lesnar was basically living out the childhood dreams of almost every single kid. Now I'm not trying to be biased but let's quickly list the things that Brock Lesnar has done in his lifetime.

By age 32 Lesnar has won an NCAA title in wrestling, competed in the main event of Wrestlemania, tried out for the Minnesota Vikings, beaten Randy Couture (one of the MMA's greatest fighters), and just recently became the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Those are incredible feats.

Now, I grew up in the Bay Area which is home to some great MMA Fighters. Fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Chuck Liddell, Cung Le, Jon Fitch, and Ralph Gracie all have Bay Area ties. Most of my friends who are really into MMA and even train at gyms absolutely hate people like Brock Lesnar or Kimbo Slice. They just don't consider them legitimate fighters.

Styles of Brazilian Jiu Jitzu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, or even Kempo Karate are more respected forms of fighting than the brutal "Ground & Pound" of Lesnar. Also, it pisses real MMA fans off that a guy who comes from a fake-wrestling background, can come into the sport and be successful. They feel like a former actor has come into their sport and won a title. Hell, even I think it's a joke sometimes.

Back to my original point of why Dana White is the most happiest man in the world right now. Much to the chagrin of real MMA fans, Lesnar has given the UFC a legitimate "Bad Guy".

After beating the living hell out of Frank Mir, Lesnar flipped off the crowd. As the cameraman zoomed tried to get a shot of the UFC title belt, Lesnar put his face in the shot to show the world his cocky smile. Lesnar knows he's the evil villain with a giant target on his back now, and he is fully embracing his role. All eyes will be on Lesnar as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

Non-fans will tune-in to see what all the fuss is about. Pro-Wrestling fans will tune-in because they will feel obligated to root for a guy like Brock Lesnar. Finally, the real MMA fans will watch Lesnar's fights just to see if he loses. They will buy Pay-Per-Views to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Lesnar's game.

Dana White's heavyweight division just got a lot more interesting. This is something White desperately needed for his organization after he failed to sign Fedor Emelianenko (who is widely considered the best heavyweight and pound-for-pound fighter in the world).

Fedor is the one thing that the UFC's closest competitor, Affliction, has to grab media attention and good Pay-Per-View ratings. And seriously, how often is Fedor going to fight in a year, maybe 2 times? When Brock Lesnar's not fighting, Dana White still has big draws such as St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and BJ Penn to bring in money.

I can see Brock being a force in the UFC for years to come. He's still relatively young. The potential fights for Lesnar in the near future (Couture, Nogueira, Carwin, Mir, Velasquez) are all people he can defeat.

At 6'3" and 265 pounds, the guy is an absolute beast. What most people don't realize is that most underrated thing about Lesnar is his speed. The guy can knock someone down with a combo and then be on top of the guy in half a second, pounding away at their head with hammerfists. And he basically has the largest fists in MMA.

Yup, Dana White gambled big and won big. To give a guy like Lesnar a title shot after only having 3 total fights is unheard of and kind of absurd. But after tonight, it's paid off for White and he has found his "Bad Guy".