Brock Lesnar: Mindless Neanderthal or Calculating Predator

There are many here on Bleacher Report who think that Brock Lesnar is nothing more than a mindless freak of nature who simply won the UFC HW belt because of his sheer size. Many feel that he lacks the skills of an elite fighter and has the intelligence of a carnival worker.

Kid yourselves no longer because Brock Lesnar is poised to possibly become the most dominant champion in UFC history. Lesnar has the size, strength, agility, wrestling base, and learning aptitude to become a force unlike any we have seen in the past.

Physical Gifts

Anyone who lays eyes on Lesnar can see how huge he is. At 6’3” and a sold 290 lbs. he is a menacing figure. The man has an 81” wingspan, that’s 6’9” for the mathematically challenged.

The truly impressive thing about the physical size and frame that Lesnar was blessed with is his speed and agility.

For the football fans out there the way the Lesnar moves and the speed in which he moves in not uncommon but in the world of MMA it is unheard of. I am positive that if Lesnar chose to pursue football rather than wrestling after high school we would see him playing on Sundays right now.

Wrestling Base

We all know that Lesnar was a NCAA Division One National Champion. That unto itself is an amazing achievement but let us take a closer look.

After a 33-0 record as a senior in high school Lesnar chose to go to Bismark Junior College. While there he compiled a 56-3 record, a NJCAA National Title, and was a two-time NJCAA All-American.

From there Lesnar went on to the University of Minnesota where he would become a two-time NCAA Division One All-American, a National Runner-Up, and a National Champion all while reeling off an impressive record of 50-2 at the Division One level.

For those out there who believe that Lesnar has no skill please take another look at that paragraph. Wrestling is a sport that is dominated by skill. You cannot become a champion at any level simply because you are big and strong. Great wrestlers drill the basics and focus on the fundamentals.

Perhaps that is why he appears to have a rudimentary style of smoother and smash in the cage. Lesnar is a wrestler to the core and because of this you can expect him provide a simple and effective approach to his fighting.

Intangibles

The intangibles are what can propel good fighter into the realm of greatness.

It’s the calm under pressure that Silva and Fedor have. It’s the toughness and heart that Huerta showed at UFN 19. It’s the work ethic that St. Pierre has. Those are all traits that you find in great fighters and quite simply without those intangibles; the things you can’t teach, the things that you are born with are what lead you to become great.

Lesnar has the intangibles that few in this world do. He is a competitor in every sense of the word.

He left a promising career and millions of dollars in the WWE to ignite and feed that competitive fire that was burning inside of him. Lesnar’s first stop on this journey was a try-out with the Minnesota Vikings where he made it all the way until the final cut.

To make it to the final cut for an NFL franchise is difficult enough but to do it having not played a down of football since his time is high school is astonishing.

With his NFL hopes dashed Lesnar set his sights on the world of MMA. Lesnar began his MMA training just three short years ago and has amassed a record of 4-1, his only loss coming by way of knee bar submission to Frank Mir—a loss that Lesnar later avenged in dominating fashion to unify the UFC Heavyweight Title.

What all this tells me is that Lesnar has the uncanny ability evolved in the world of sports. He picks things up with surprising speed and is able to incorporate what he has learned into his arsenal with relative ease.

The scary thing about Lesnar though, is his work ethic and determination. Lesnar works harder and fights with a bigger chip on his shoulder than every other HW in the UFC. He wants to be the best at anything he does, and he wants to prove everyone that has ever doubted him wrong. That fire is what will allow Lesnar to become great and it is that fire that will prevent him from becoming complacent or overlooking an opponent.

Look at the way Lesnar has evolved every fight. In his first fight he simply overwhelmed an overmatched Min Soo Kim with brute force. In his first fight for the UFC against Frank Mir, Lesnar took Mir to the mat with ease and began to unload on him with short hammer fists before getting caught with an excellent submission by Mir.

It was in Lesnar’s first fight with Mir that we witnessed an overwhelming force get excited, get sloppy and get caught. His next foray inside the Octagon would be against perennial gatekeeper Heath Herring.

In the opening exchange Lesnar broke Herring’s orbital bone and sent him tumbling backward. Lesnar dominated Herring for three rounds showing impressive cardio but also an inability to finish the fight.

Next up for the beast would be living legend and king of the underdogs Randy Couture. This fight would be for the UFC HW title. Lesnar came in confident and ready to prove why he was granted such an early shot at the title. Couture looked good in the first round and was able to score some points but it was Lesnar who controlled the action.

Then came the second round where Lesnar landed a puch behind the ear of Couture, knocking off his equilibrium and sending him to the canvass. Lesnar would not let this opportunity to finish the fight slip away. He pounced on Couture and sealed the deal with a barrage of hammer fist strikes.

Lesnar was now the champ with one thing left to do: to cement that fact into the minds of everyone and avenge his lone loss and unify the HW title.

Lesnar’s second fight with Mir really showed his progression and evolution in the sport. Lesnar showed the patience that had been lacking in his previous fights as well as the ability to control an opponent on the ground and inflict an immense amount of damage with short powerful strikes.     

Take note, Brock Lesnar is hungry and he is on the prowl. He not a simple minded caveman with clubs for arms but rather a methodical, hard working, creature stalking his prey waiting for the moment to pounce with explosive force and power. Lesnar is continually getting better and adding to his game but we are going to continue to see his so-called simple game plan until some shows that they can stop it.

Do not confuse simplicity with effectiveness and do not believe that Lesnar is simple minded because of the way that he attacks. Lesnar knows from his years of wrestling that to be great you drill the basics. The simplicity of his attacks is where his greatness lies and it is in that simplicity that we see his true genius.