UFC 100 Winner Brock Lesnar Antagonizes Crowd, Sponsors, Opponent Frank Mir
by Kid Nate on Jul 12, 2009 12:32 AM EDT
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Welcoming the boos of an angry crowd, Brock Lesnar taunted UFC sponsor Bud Light and flipped off the fans. Promising to go home and "get on top of my wife" WWE star Sable, Brock Lesnar made it clear that from his perspective on the top of the UFC's heavyweight division, he doesn't care what anyone thinks.
Lesnar's excellent wrestling technique and staggering, terrifying power to bludgeoned Frank Mir. He followed up that performance with one of the best one mic performances in UFC history.
Many time WWE champion Ric Flair would have been proud to deliver such an enraging performance. Lesnar is just the ticket for compelling attention to a growing sport. I have no doubt the MMA blogosphere will eat up his shtick, but it will be interesting to see how the vaunted MSM reacts.
My prediction, they eat it up like Michael Jackson's funeral.
Like it or not hardcores, Brock Lesnar will be driving the commerical future of MMA for the foreseeable future.
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they'll editorialize against it
but they’ll pay a lot of attention. The UFC makes money either way.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
This is true.
I just hate to think that, attention or not, this is how they will see the biggest card they decided to cover.
Until the media is writing actual sports articles breaking down fights, I don’t really care what they think, as it simply wont matter. This strange idea that the sport won’t really be OK until it’s completely mainstream is entirely tangential to my enjoyment of MMA.
by capital L on Jul 12, 2009 1:20 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Brock's crappy attitude.
What a punk. I can only hope that Shane Carwin can shut that big baby up. He’s gotten criticism from at least two of his fellow UFC fighters – Chuck Liddell (if indeed that is his real Twitter) says “F That Honkey Kong.” Shane Carwin says “you going to flip off the great fans of the UFC? These are the best fans in the world. What a…”
Dana is making more money off Brock than he is off the sponsors.
Live by the libertarian ethos, die by the libertarian ethos. Brock is just the champ Dana deserves.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
may have been frightened of a fully-engorged Lesnar.
Mayo is the official sponsor of Zombies everywhere. I don’t trust you. --The Captain of Cheese
by Leopold Bloom on Jul 12, 2009 1:25 AM EDT up reply actions
Dude, you guys don’t get it. Brock is awesome. Who cares if he’s a total jerk with zero class? He wins and looks scary!
By the way, I’m 11 years old.
BOOSH
As Dale Earnhardt told Jeff Gordon...
Don’t worry when the fans boo you. Start worrying when they don’t do anything.
Brock was in WWE long enough to know ANY charged crowd reaction, good or bad, is good for business. Sure, he may not make as much in t-shirt money, but he will draw a crowd, if nothing else hoping to see him lose.
Dana White is a smart enough man to know this can be good for business. But if the MSM starts questioning the integrity of the fights because of the WWE-like atmosphere, that’s Dana’s worst nightmare.
"We're not the other teams' farm system." - Andy MacPhail
by duck on Jul 12, 2009 1:10 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Let me be the first to eat crow, I was almost a 100% sure that Mir was going to take this and that there was no way that Brock had improved enough to beat him and boy was I wrong. Lesnar seemed prepared and looked like a veteran fighter the way he came out and executed him game plan against Mir, this might be the first of many successful title defenses in Brock’s future so props to him.
Brock + UFC = $$$$
Before the fight I liked Lesnar, then his after fight antics rubbed me the wrong way and then his interview completely won me over.
This guy knows how to make money, lots and lots of money.
by Mocha Shaka Khan on Jul 12, 2009 1:21 AM EDT reply actions
I don't understand...
Why people are hating on Brock for his post fight conference when what Dan said / did was worse? I have utter disdain for Bisping but Hendo pretty much knew Mike was out and landed a killer punch. Brock plays the heel real well and now people will pay to cheer him and the majority will pay to see him get his ass kicked.
The fighter can do whatever he wants until the ref pulls him off. Hendo responded immediately to the ref. Seemed acceptable to me.
Very much so...
Just his reasoning bothered me a bit. Brock pissed me off a hell of a lot more, but i just didn’t like what Dan did. He’s still one of my favorite fighters. I think if he had said “I was just working till the ref stopped it,” I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
yea
I heard it. But I dont think so. In my opinion what Hendo did is almost the same as Babalu. And I love the fact that Hendo won, cuz I cannot stand Bisping. What Lesnar did was amateur, but he is real and doesnt care if he is not loved. And while several will now pay to cheer Brock on, the majority will want to see him get his ass kicked. It’s money no matter how you look at it.
And BTW, if the media frowns on this, then they would of had a problem with several Mayweather post fight interviews…..
THE BUFFER 360 happened when he introduced lesnar!!
Why didn’t I see it?? Someone find a vid of it please.
Wait, what??
This needs it’s own post, with video. STAT!
by Mocha Shaka Khan on Jul 12, 2009 1:28 AM EDT up reply actions
All the guys who tweeter from the show mentioned it..
Even Bruce himself mentioned it on twitter.. But I don’t think the broadcast showed it..
I’m so pissed and happy at the same time.
by Anton Tabuena on Jul 12, 2009 1:33 AM EDT up reply actions
Brock really belongs in a Super Heavyweight class. The problem is, no one else would be in it with him.
LOL
MMA has been dominated by 230 pound heavyweights since it’s inception. They have been kicking the shit out sloppy big oafs for years. Yet now we suddenly need a SHW division because one big legitimate athlete has arrived on the scene?
Goldberg even mentioned it during the broadcast. He said something about how fitting it was that at UFC 100 the main event was the same thing as UFC 1. Smaller guy trying to use Jiu Jitsu to beat a giant from his back.
It’s just that this time the big guy knew what BJJ was going into the match, so he was better prepared.
Great.
Let’s see how they do first before whining about the need for a new division. If that wave of monsters starts smashing the crap out of the 230 pound guys, then it is certainly worth considering.
But it ain’t happened yet, and I am not entirely certain that it will happen. Many of those ‘monsters’ coming up in Brock’s wake will be exposed as great athletes who can’t fight or giant oafs like their predecessors.
I think some people forget that there have been lots of guys cutting to 265lbs for a long time now. The difference with Brock isn’t the weight it’s the athleticism.
the size + the athleticism
is why they created weight classes in the first place.
Now that we’re finally beginning to get premier athletes in the heavyweight class, its time to split the division.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
There isn’t a soul watching tonight that isn’t ordering Brock’s next fight.
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 12, 2009 1:54 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I haven't ordered a PPV in forever.
But you’re half-right. I’ll definitely watch the next fight.
BOOSH
Interesting story from my new job. Last week I was talking to some of the guys I work with about UFC 100 (or “that Brock Lesnar fight” as they called it). All older men, all ordering the PPV, all were ordering it just for the Brock Lesnar fight. One guy mentioned that “that GSP guy was fighting someone too” but for the most part all they did was talk about Brock Lesnar. His WWE past never came up but many of his athletic stats were discussed in depth, these guys didn’t refer to it as MMA or the UFC they refered to it as the Lesnar fight this weekend.
These are guys who aren’t hardcore MMA fans, heck only one of them even knew there was other UFC programming on this week, they were also not pro wrestling fans either (Lesnar being pro wrestler was never even mentioned). They talked for more than 10 minutes about how fast Lesnar was and what he did in NFL training camp and knew all sorts of stuff about him but none of them could even name GSP’s opponent. The things that seem to matter so much to us fans who discuss the sport on the internet were completely irrelevant to these guys, heck the fact that UFC 100 is a big deal wasn’t something they even seemed to notice they were just wanting to see the Lesnar fight in the same way guys talk about big boxing matches.
Maybe the UFC can bring back the lighted entry ramp for Brock
maybe he can throw his opponent out of the octagon and onto a table.
I get the fact that the guys a beast and physically dominates most if not all opponents. It’s just the WWE type antics that are going to turn true MMA fans off on him. I work in promotions for a sports radio station in Dallas. Whenever the subject of UFC or MMA comes up, all but one of the hosts on the station show no respect, calling it fake and nothing more than a glorified Vince McMahon production.
How can the crap that Lesnar pulled help change that perception? Answer, it can’t.
Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.
Barry Switzer
He did maul
a 245lb world class BJJ man into a pulp. Some people will NEVER have their minds changed, that’s fine. It is the borderline audience that he will continue to bring to MMA that is important.
Why does it matter what the “perception” of the general media or public is for this sport. Answer, it doesn’t.
hate to disagree with you Nate
but to a certain degree he’s right. There are people out there who don’t watch certain sports, because they don’t like them. Wether or not the general public sees or hears Lesnars comments, if they don’t like the sport as a whole, they won’t watch it. The same goes for every other sport out there. Example, I can’t stand baseball, boring as shit. If Lesnar joined the Yankees tomorrow, it won’t change the fact that I hate baseball and still won’t watch it.
Baseball is a firmly established sport
deeply woven into the national fabric.
And yet, its appeal has eroded enough over the years that it no longer is a top destination for America’s top athletes which creates something of a vicious spiral as they are forced to import more and more top stars.
MMA is very much still on the fringe and could easily implode like MMA did in Japan if we don’t assiduously cultivate the mainstream.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
That would be true if many of these same mma fans didn’t love Pride because of their pro-wrestling style presentation of MMA. There have been many guys who’ve done crazy antics before during and after fights in the UFC hell Tito became a star and a multi-millionaire because of his pro-wrestling style Bad Boy gimmick. In the end people want to see great athletes put on great fights, Lesnar does that he is a freak in every sense of the word and the guy who looks to take MMA to the top level if he keeps being a dominant champion.
What Brock did was certainly classless, but
negative publicity is better than no publicity. He’s gonna get crucified by fans and reporters alike (Iole already has an article up about the fights and notes how Brock “saluted” the fans), but in all honesty, fans hating him just creates more buzz. I think his comments about Bud Light will get him in more hot water with Dana than flipping off the fans.
As for his performance, it went pretty much how I expected. He’s just too big and strong, and Mir’s stand-up game isn’t as good as he thinks it is. If Nogueira beats Couture, I think he could pose a challenge to Brock (one of the best chins in MMA history, best heavyweight BJJ in MMA, and phenomenal heart and determination). Otherwise, I think the UFC needs to bring in Fedor. I’d like to say Carwin has a puncher’s chance, but I have a feeling that it’ll be pretty damn tough to beat Brock on the feet, considering he has a Neanderthal-sized skull and ate that clean knee from Mir without even budging…
The funny this
is we had a salute on LIVE TV on Spike and it was laughed off. And that autracity occurred during a fight. God I love them Diaz boys.
After the Mir-Lesnar fight was over, I got up and left the room because I knew very well that a full-on WWE style rant was coming, and I’m just not going to listen to it. I’m going to start treating Lesnar like I do BJ Penn – if I have to watch him on a fight card, I’ll watch and hope that he gets his ass handed to him, but if he’s just talking and not fighting, I don’t really give a damn what he has to say because nothing but pure BS comes out of his mouth. I’m not even close to convinced that he’s for real. I think it’s all just an act. I mean, come on, that’s what he’s used to doing, putting on a big fake show, and that’s what’s gotten him a ton of cash thus far, so why stop now?
Ha
Unlike the BS that comes out of Mir’s mouth about how he’s stronger than Lesnar and has the speed of a MW?
I guess you’re going to be walking out of the room a lot.
by jebushchrist on Jul 12, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
who says 50 extra pounds isn't alot of weight...
The Heavyweight division in the UFC has now been reduced to a scene I remember seeing in a high school lunch room. Big fat bully sits on nerdy kid and pounds him until he gives up his lunch money.
The pre fight bullshit machine lead us to believe that Lesnar was taking this whole MMA thing seriously, and attempting to gain skills and techniques to use against his opponents. What we saw last night was a big guy lay down on a smaller big guy and hammer away. Alot of people will say “oh it takes alot of wrestling skill to do that bla bla bla…” but when you outweigh someone by 50 lbs, it really takes far less skill than most people who have never grappled would think.
I am not a lesnar hater, but I was really hoping to see some sort of technical progression out of him, but instead we got the same old crap. I think this will eventually work against the UFC, as since this isn’t pro wrestling, people want to see fair fights not someone just get beaten up. The pro wrestling fans will too get bored in time, as it isn’t even exciting to watch him.
I want to see the division split, Heavyweight: 235 super heavyweight: 255+
Why do people ignore the fact that Mir tapped him once, Randy was able to stand with him for a bit, and it looked like Mir did some damage standing in the second round.
The only fight Brock controlled from beginning to end is the Herring fight, and he would be in the upper half of any split of the HW division you could come up with.
Why do people ignore the fact that Mir tapped him once, Randy was able to stand with him for a bit, and it looked like Mir did some damage standing in the second round.
Prolly cuz people (many, at least) would rather see a fight where one person doesn’t have a huge advantage going in, and the other person is fighting uphill.
So you hate any GSP, Fedro, or Machida fight?
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
Prolly cuz people (many, at least) would rather see a fight where one person doesn’t have a huge advantage going in, and the other person is fighting uphill.
I mean GSP never has a huge wrestling advantage over his opponents, Machida never has a timing/speed advantage over his opponents, Fedro never has a speed/technique advantage over his opponents. Wait a minute…
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
Do you ever contribute anything useful other than snide comments?
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
Last night had to be hard on him. If Mir had won and forced me to re-evaluate my whole view on the sport, I’d probably be snarky too.
How's the weather up your own ass? - Stephen Colbert
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 12, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
So Brock’s size advantage is a problem, but the experience advantage that Mir, Couture, and Herring all had is irrelevant?
This can be a very real and very fair issue (consider the Cyborg v. Akano debacle). I just don’t know if I want to defuse the UFC’s HW division at this particular moment.
I understand
It’s more important to have one person dominate than to have any real fights.
It helps when that one person is very marketable, of course.
Did you cry this much about Tim Sylvia or Antonio Silva?
Those guys were both bigger than Brock when they won their respective organizations HW belts.
You keep using words “cry” and “whining” when dealing with people here.
Are you intentionally using troll jargon in an effort to offend people, or just unable to stop yourself?
You’re crying and whining because Brock won in dominant fashion.
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 12, 2009 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
He has a advantage but Mir could have came in at 265 too. Alves weighed 190 at fight time. Belcher had a size advantage over Akiyama. Why arent you complaining about that?
If you dont like Lesnar fine. But dont blame him for being bigger than his opponent.
He has a advantage but Mir could have came in at 265 too
1: lesnar didn’t come in at 265. He rehydrated or whatever after weigh ins (they all do, who cut weight). This is not an issue I care about. I am stating it for you.
2: Mir could have come in at 265 if he ate a bunch of cheezburgers and milkshakes, but umm.. why would be do that?
But dont blame him for being bigger than his opponent.
I don’t.
What do you blame Brock for?
How's the weather up your own ass? - Stephen Colbert
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 12, 2009 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Weight differences matter much, much more at lower weights. The difference between Randy & Brock (a competitive fight) is the same as Miguel Torres and Anderson Silva – 45lbs on the day of the weigh-in.
Shameless self-promotion! http://twitter.com/scb0212
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Jul 12, 2009 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions
again, what part of the Lesnar Couture fight was competitive? Lesnar dominated the fight.
Revisionist history FTL.
I’ve gone back and watched it again and I still think the Couture vs Lesnar fight was competitive. How can you have “revisionist history” about something that is purely personal opinion to start with?
50 pounds?
Lesnar usually steps into the sauna at 275-280. He had 30 pounds on Mir max.
Tim Sylvia is bigger than Lesnar, but that sure didn’t stop E-Fed & Ray Mercer from taking his head off. And don’t even get me started on Zulu and Hong Man Choi. If size were really all that matters, why is the history of MMA replete with 230 pound heavyweights knocking the crap out of the gigantic stiffs?
Lesnar isn’t winning with size. He’s winning with size, athleticism, and good old fashioned wrasslin’.
Where did you get 50lbs? Do you actually believe that Brock Lesnar weighs 300lbs at the time of the fight? Mir came into this fight at 245lbs and people were saying he was in the best shape of his life but at 81 when he fought Lesnar he weighed in at 255lbs and 251lbs for the Nog fight. Mir purposely lost weight for this fight to be in better shape, he chose to be smaller. In the heavyweight division body mass isn’t as important as people make it out to be it’s about the athleticism, if it was about the weight all the guys in the division would look like Roy Nelson.
The big misconception that I see you having is this idea that this would be the same as a big fat bully vs a nerdy kid and that is just plain wrong, you should think about it more like a defensive lineman on the high school football team getting into it with a even larger offensive lineman on the high school football team because both guys involved are huge vicious men who would tear the average guy into small pieces. There is no bully here and when you get to the size these guys are at weight actually starts to become a hinderance than a plus. Lesnar’s advantage isn’t his size it’s his athletic advantage, there have always been guys who cut to 265lbs in MMA Brock is just the first one of them who moves around the ring like a Middleweight but still hits like a truck too, not to mention his elite amateur wrestling background.
I’m not that surprised that Brock relishes the bad guy role. I mean when he was with the WWE they were asked to encourage good or bad reactions from the crowd at the drop of a hat, depending what the WWE wanted at the time. So it’s not like he isn’t used to the disapproval of a crowd. I guess he figured if everyone hates him already, why fight it?
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