Why People Are Obsessed With Brock Lesnar

From what I read on message boards, websites, blogs, and even this humble website is that people are obsessed with Brock Lesnar. They love talking about him, saying how little class he has, admiring his physical attributes, complaining about his tattoos, accuse him of steroid use, etc. And this is why Brock Lesnar is headlining UFC fights with a 2-1 record.

I'll be the first to admit that I want to watch Brock Lesnar fight. I'm not going to watch hoping that his ego will be put into place by first Mir, then Herring, and now Couture.

And I'm not going to watch hoping that he's going to absolutely dominate his opponents. I'm going to watch Brock Lesnar fight for the same reason why people watch Bob Sapp and Kimbo fight. People love a freak show.

Freak shows sell tickets. That's why when Sapp faced Ernesto Hoost the fight fight had over 30 million viewers in Japan. To put that number in perspective, this season of American Idol had only 29 million viewers. Freak shows sell tickets, period.

It's the same reason why Kimbo Slice's fights have been some of the most watched fights in MMA history. Kimbo Slice is a freak show. He's a big, physically impressive black dude, with a huge beard, gold teeth, and a penchant for violence. It's the same reason people loved to watch Mike Tyson fight: Mike Tyson was scary.

The only difference between Brock, Sapp, and Kimbo, is that Brock actually has the speed, intelligence, background, and training to be so much more than the other two. As long as there is a huge dude in the ring, people are going to pay to watch it.

This is the same reason why people think that Shane Carwin is going to be so dominant. Because really, Carwin hasn't fought anyone, but he's this giant white dude who is VERY physically impressive.

I guarantee that once Carwin is shown on the main card, people are going to want to watch him fight more often, hell, I want to watch him fight WAY more often. I bet people will clamor for a fight between Carwin and Lesnar. It's the same reason why Lesnar's first fight was supposed to be against Hong Man Choi, why Hong Man Choi fought Bob Sapp, and why Semmy Schilt was popular.

As much as we, read North American MMA fans, claim to be uninterested in the Japanese love of mismatches and freak shows, we really aren't much better. Brock Lesnar's fight on Saturday is projected to have over One million buys. The only way it wont reach that milestone is because of a lack of advertising from the UFC.

See, the thing that people hate about Brock Lesnar is that he is not that he's big or fast or strong. It's simply because he was a professional wrestler, and people payed to watch him wrestler for the same reasons we love to hate on him.

And when Brock wins Saturday night, because he is going to be beat Randy "I have a 66% win percentage and cant beat Liddell who I outweigh" Couture and proceeds to mock him, it shouldn't be viewed as out of the ordinary in fight sports.

How would it be any different than Ortiz digging a grave after beating Ken Shamrock? Or BJ Penn licking the blood off his gloves? People just love to hate on Brock because he's from professional wrestling, just like a plethora of other amazing MMA fighters.

Lesnar will never get any respect in the UFC, no matter what anyone else says or even what he does, and it has less to do with his actions than it does to preconceived notions from before he stepped into the ring.

What's worse is that the more people complain about Lesnar's attitude (though if you REALLY listen to his interviews and even his trainers, he is amazingly humble), his physique (so what if he used steroids? If you think that athletes have never used steroids in the past you are only cheating yourself. The USA helped create more potent steroids to use with our Olympic Weight Lifters), and his antics, it will only add more fuel to Lesnar's character, because that is what he's being.

What will benefit this sport so much more is a more objective approach. People hate Brock Lesnar for acting like he was riding Heath like a horse, but forget that Mike Tyson said to Lennox Lewis that he wanted to eat his children. Brock Lesnar is nothing different and the sooner people realize that, the more enjoyable it will be to watch him fight because he's not going anywhere.