Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

by Luke Thomas on Jan 13, 2008 1:25 PM EST in MMA News

It's being suggested a Lesnar win over Frank Mir will be good for the UFC and bad for the sport of MMA:

UFC President Dana White says in that promotional video, "If Brock Lesnar can back up all the things he's saying, he might become the biggest star in mixed martial arts."

White might be right about that -- Lesnar is already a big star among wrestling fans, and he's probably the second-most famous fighter UFC has under contract -- but making Lesnar a UFC star would be bad for the sport of mixed martial arts.

For MMA as a sport to be taken seriously by the general public, it needs the general public to think the best fighters in the sport are legitimate athletes. If someone like Lesnar can make a transition from pro wrestling to MMA stardom, it will be hard for the sport to be taken any more seriously than wrestling is. I realize that Lesnar has credentials as a real athlete in collegiate wrestling, I'm glad White got Lesnar to sign up with UFC, and I'm curious to see how Lesnar does. But I'm concerned that if Lesnar succeeds, he'll be doing it at the expense of the sport of mixed martial arts.

And no one seems to be mentioning the fact that MMA is Lesnar's third career option after quiting professional wrestling and failing to make the cut in the NFL. That means he's only been training for a few years and has already risen to main event status in the sport's most prestigious organization. Part of that is the marketing machine behind the UFC pushing him that far, but the fact still remains that a guy who's only trained in the sport for a very narrow window of time is competing at the sport's highest levels. That's not exactly giving credence to the idea that MMA fighters have to spend years honing their craft. And don't give this bullshit about how great Brock's stand-up and submissions are going to be in two years. It takes a hell of a lot longer than two years to get good at either discipline and I'd be shocked to see Lesnar display any sort of skill in either department.

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Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

No worries, dude. Mir is 260, not a 220 HW. Mir by easy armbar 10 secs after the takedown.

by MoreThanUFC on Jan 13, 2008 2:58 PM EST reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

IDK... Lesnar is a hard worker, big, strong, powerful guy. Will Mir submit him? Chances are? yes.. But you shouldnt be that surprised if mir is simply overpowered by lesnar. Vera knocked out mir, so you know he can be, and Lesnar is certianly stronger than Vera. Will Lesnar be able to get inside or mir without getting into trouble? We will see.

If Mir does win? it does almost nothing for MMA. Proves Lesnar wasnt prepared. And technique beats strenth.. Whoop-de-do. Watch Royce Gracie if you want to see that. But what if Brock wins decisively? What if he destroys Mir like Houston did to Keith? Wow.. What does that say about his natural talent? What does it say about his place in the HW division? And it also creates big possibilities for fight opportunities.

And besides mir.. Who in my opinion has the best chance of beating lesnar because of his JJ.. who will be strong enough to take lesnar and how..

I like the possibilites more if Lesnar wins... Will he win?.. Its definitely questionable

by Tyson on Jan 13, 2008 3:27 PM EST reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

Seems to me that Big Nog and Big Tim both have easy answers to the Brock Lesnar question.

by Kid Nate on Jan 13, 2008 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

I'd also again like to ask people to stop talking about the NFL experiment like it was a total failure. If anything the fact that he could show up to a tryout with NO football experience (he didn't play college or high school football) and make a practice squad (an injury or two away from being on the actual team) in the biggest football league in the world speaks pretty amazingly high of his pure athletic ability. Had he dedicated a year or two more he probably could have made an NFL squad (albeit as a backup to a backup player) or he could have played in the AFL or something.

I'm not saying that matters in the grand scheme of how he'll do in MMA, but people talk about his NFL thing as some embarassing failure...it really was impressive.

by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 13, 2008 5:29 PM EST reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

You're right about the NFL thing. Lesnar is a freaky athlete and if he's able to succeed at the highest levels of MMA it doesn't do anything to tarnish the sport.

by Richard Wade on Jan 13, 2008 11:09 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

You all forget, I know I've posted this, I have met Lesnar. He's dumber than dirt, a complete jerk, and has the common sense of a 14 year old girl wearing a Free Britney shirt.

MMA was, is, and always will be a thinking man's game. You dont see champions with all brawn and no brains. This aint boxing...

This match harkens back to the days of UFC 2, Royce vs Severn. It'll be nice to watch BJJ roll over the grab-drag-pound guys again.

by MoreThanUFC on Jan 13, 2008 5:51 PM EST reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

that was UFC 4

by Kid Nate on Jan 13, 2008 10:06 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

I will be pretty surprised if we see Mir win with an immediate armbar. I think there's a good chance Lesnar won't be able to handle the pressure and will get KO'ed, but he's been training with very good jiu jitsu guys for months now.

The arrogance about how the armbar win will be so easy makes me almost want to root for Lesnar. It reminds me of how Shogun was going to completely destroy Forrest in 2 minutes because he was "in a different league." Mir has to be the favorite, but I suspect Lesnar's amazing amateur wrestling background, strength, and 2 years of good training partners will make for a more competitive fight than people expect.

by Michael Rome on Jan 13, 2008 5:58 PM EST reply actions

Re: Will Brock Lesnar Kill MMA?

I don't know that arm bar is even going to come from Mir let only come easy. But what I do know is that two years of jiu-jitsu ain't shit. Seriously, that is not very much time at all even with Brock's wrestling background. And unless he's training with Dave Camarillo black belts in the midwest, I'm also not sure how good his jiu-jitsu prep is to begin with.

Do not be fooled into thinking jiu-jitsu is something people master after a few years. BJ Penn may have earned his black belt in 4 years, but there's a reason they call him the prodigy.

by Luke Thomas on Jan 14, 2008 9:45 AM EST up reply actions