Brock Lesnar: The Kobe Bryant of MMA

At first glance, comparing MMA’s Brock Lesnar to basketball’s Kobe Bryant seems impossible.

Bryant is a champion athlete who uses an undeniable and unparalleled skill set to dominate his competition, while Lesnar dominates with his brute force and raw physical gifts.

In many ways, it’s like comparing the grace of a swan to the power of a rhino.

Athletically, the two couldn’t be further apart, but it is in how they are perceived by their respective fan bases that the two are surprisingly similar. The fans either love them or they despise them, and there is little if any gray area in between.

Go to any NBA fan forum on the Internet and post “Kobe Bryant is overrated.” Within moments your post would be flooded with replies either fully supporting or completely blasting you for your basketball blasphemy.

Now, go to an MMA forum and post “Brock Lesnar is unstoppable.” Like with the Bryant post, this post will be fiercely and passionately debated.

While, every athlete has fans that are willing to defend them tooth and nail on the web should anyone speak ill of them, there are few who can polarize fans in the way Bryant and Lesnar do.

So, what is it about Lesnar exactly that can draw so many in yet at the same time push so many away?

One word—Personality.

Lesnar has a big personality that either sucks fans in to the hype and mystique or pushes fans to see nothing but smoke and mirrors.

No one can deny that a healthy and motivated Lesnar has to the physical tools alone to be a force in the division. But combine God’s gifts with his top notch wrestling pedigree and a fierce competitive fire and Lesnar could become the most feared heavyweight to ever compete in the sport.

Yet, somehow that matters very little in the eyes of many. Rather than looking at the positives that Lesnar brings to the sport with him, a large segment of the fan base focuses on the negatives of his presence; the most glaring being his WWE history and persona.

If there is one thing MMA fans hate it is their sport being associated with professional wrestling. But while fans may not want or appreciate the personality that Lesnar brings to the table, his presence is needed for MMA to bridging that final gap between where it is today and becoming fully accepted by the mainstream.

Lesnar’s mass appeal generates interest in the sport, and that interest translates into revenue. In the end, MMA is just as much a business as any other sport, so as the money MMA generates becomes greater, so will the interest it receives from the mainstream media.

The visceral response that Lesnar is able to generate amongst the fans will only help as MMA pushes forward.