Lesnar Haters Have to Give Him His Due!

 Brock Lensar is undoubtedly a polarizing figure in the MMA world, and no one seems to have had more hatred thrown towards him than Brock. Amongst a certain breed of MMA fans exists an animosity for Brock Lesnar, and some of these guys are my buddies.

After watching the last fight with Carwin at UFC 116, even the most ardent Lesnar haters have to give him credit for being a tough fighter who took a beating, survived and came back to win convincingly.

Let’s talk about the hatred for Brock though. Where does it emanate from?

 The hatred for Brock comes from two schools of thought, and I know guys in both camps:

• First group of the anti-Brocks: He is just big, not skilled.  Just a lot of hype.

 This one is the most baffling. What do people consider being skilled?  Since when does being an NCAA wrestling champion not constitute being skilled?
 
Guys seem to be on board with the MMA fighters who take BJJ classes at their local dojo, but someone like Lesnar?  nah, he is just a big dude. It makes me wonder if some MMA fans actually take time to watch any other sports.

 In Lesnar's case, he happens to be more athletic than 99% of MMA fighters out there. Simply put: the dude is genetically gifted.  He is of a different breed than most guys competing. What about skill level, though?

120-6 as an NCAA Division-I champ.  Anyone being at the top of the collegiate ranks is an extremely skilled athlete. I think some people just don’t realize the level of skill it takes to be rise out of the college ranks: Any athlete being drafted in the first round of the draft in the NBA or the NFL is extremely skilled, even if they never become successful professionals in that endeavor.  

Whether it's a college superstar about to go to the NBA, the NFL, or wrestling is incredibly skilled to have achieved those ranks

Brock Lensar is no different.  Is he a supremely well-rounded Martial Artist?  Not at all, but few MMA fighters are.    His standup/striking game is terrible, just as was Royce Gracie’s in the early UFC Days.  Royce never received so much hatred for it, though.

 The hatred for Brock then goes deeper than just not being well-rounded, which brings me to the second group the Anti-brocks.

• Second group of the anti-Brocks:  He is a pro-wrestler.

 This is also baffling for a different reason. It's baffling to see people criticize someone for taking a road they would have traveled themselves.

 OK, so you just got out of college after being a celebrated wrestling champion.   You have  a choice to make: Be financially broke, or make a few million Dollars by joining WWE as part of Vince Mc Mahon’s charade. 

 Most people would choose to make that money over being financially broke.  This isn’t the NBA, NFL, or the boring snooze fest that is Golf for that matter.  It’s tough to make a great living transitioning from Wrestling. 

Compare that to baseball:

 You could be fat & out of shape, batting .175, fill up a roster spot on a major league baseball, chew seeds and grab your testicles every five miunutes.  We’re talking about a tobacco spitting filthy blob, and at the very least, they’d give him the league minimum salary of somewhere around 400,000 Dollars for loitering in the Dug Out. 

 On the other hand, you can be a finely tuned Olympic Champion, and outside of sponsors, you’re not making much money with your wrestling.  So you join the dreaded “Pro Wrestling” to a fraction of the money other pro-athletes make.

 Some cardinal sin has been committed, and in a society where people are quick to forget what Michael Jackson did, people are not so quick to overlook Lesnar joining pro wrestling, a seemingly unforgivable act. 

 It all seems a bit contradictory and hypocritical.

 Of course, you have Brock Lesnar’s vile behavior after beating Frank Mir, but I do believe much of that was the direct result of the hatred he had received coming into MMA.  Those who allude to his less-than-classy behavior are quick to forget that Anti-Brockism started the moment he set foot in the UFC.

 “Hey boy, We don’t want your kind around here, ya hear?” 

 Regardless, Lesnar is here to stay. A 270-pound beast who moves like a light heavy weight with the power of someone who weights over 300 pounds, he is fun to watch.  As an MMA fan, I enjoy watching his fights.  I am glad he is in the UFC. 

 He has endured his fair share of criticism, but I’d dare say he changed the mind of a lot of the Anti-Brock people with that win over Carwin.

 He took the Rocky Balboa strategy from Rocky IV:  Block punches with your head until the other guy gets tired of punching you. Then turn the tables on him.

 While at first glance, this strategy appears to be brilliant, it usually doesn’t work well in real life, (though it did wonders for Rocky) but Brock pulled it off.

 All we needed was the “If I can change, and you can change” speech that aroused a standing-ovation, a speech that effectively ended the Cold war.  If you recall in the movie, even the Mikhail Gorbachev figure stood up applauding, and with a mean ferocious stare, he willed and shamed the other Russian heads of State to get up and support Rocky as well.

 A lot of historians cite different reasons as to why & how the Cold War ended.  I say it was Sly Stallone in Rocky IV. 

 And just like Rocky won the hearts of the people in the now defunct Soviet Union, Brock Lensar just may have won the hearts of many current MMA fans.  OK, I admit, his speech afterwards to Joe Rogin was nowhere as good as Rocky’s, but who could ever top those inspirational Rocky Speeches?   (Al Pacino, notwithstanding, of course!)

 No, I am not delusional. As a Rocky-fanatic, I'd never say Brock is a Rocky-esque figure, but with that last performance & slight touch of humility, he became less Ivan Drago, and more Rocky-like. (or maybe more "Over-the-Top"? At the very least "Cobra".)

 But in the end, if Brock can change, maybe we all can change. 

Some of the anti-Brock people seem to already have.