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ASK THE TORCH: Amadi answers reader questions on Brock Lesnar and the retroactive dismissal of his career
Jan 2, 2012 - 11:25:38 AM ASK THE TORCH: Amadi answers reader questions on Brock Lesnar and the retroactive dismissal of his career

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Brian writes: I love MMA Torch and even have the app for my Droid and most times when I read the articles I find myself learning about new fighters and cool stories from the world of MMA.

That being said, I have never understood this love of Brock Lesnar.  To me, he was mediocre at best.  I have never heard this much support for any other fighter in the UFC who has gone 4-3.  He loses to Mir, beats (no longer in UFC) Heath Herring (Lesnar knocked him down once, and then laid on him for the rest of the fight), then because of that AMAZING win he fights a retired champion who Lesnar outweighs by at least 60 lbs come fight time, it takes him a punch to the back of the head to beat Couture.

Then, he fights Mir again and actually looks somewhat competent; he takes the guy down and punches him in the face, so I'll give him that one.  Carwin? If Carwin doesn't punch himself out he actually murders Lesnar.  Velazquez made Lesnar look like the sumo wrestler from UFC 1.  And finally, I don't think Alistair Overeem broke a sweat kicking Lesnar into retirement.
Look, I am not saying that I could whoop Lesnar's ass (well, maybe, if I got to hit him with my car first), nor do I mean to disrespect any man who competed in such a dangerous, violent sport. 

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, besides getting every trailer in America to order the pay-per-views, what has Brock Lesnar done in MMA to be treated like he's Royce Gracie?  And if he ever gets a whiff of the UFC Hall of Fame, I'll have to retire from watching the UFC.

A: Obviously I go through a lot of email and read a lot of fan comments about mixed martial arts, but I will never understand how people delude themselves into believing that they've been fair and evenhanded after retroactively discrediting everything that a fighter has ever accomplished.

To say that Brock Lesnar was "mediocre at best" in his mixed martial arts career is to ignore the fact that all but two of his fights were against former heavyweight champions, and even then a fighter like Heath Herring was infinitely more experienced than he was.

Could you imagine the shellacking that Jon Jones would have received at the hands of anyone he fought this year had he not been brought up in the sport the right way and sharpened his skills against lesser opposition?

Could you imagine if Daniel Cormier or Cain Velasquez never got to round out their games against lower level fighters before squaring off against elite competition?

Would any of us have been talking about what a force Jimy Hettes might be in the future had he fought Urijah Faber or Jose Aldo instead of Nam Phan at UFC 141?

If Brock Lesnar were a more composed striker, had he not started his career off in his 30's, had he had a real career instead of fighting world champions right off the bat, this is a guy that would have unquestionably gone down as an all-time great heavyweight. Even with his current skill set, you don't think that Brock Lesnar could double leg Cheick Kongo for three rounds? You don't think Brock Lesnar could take a decision off a guy like Stefan Struve? 

The man already defeated Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Heath Herring and Randy Couture with virtually no striking skills to speak of. You don't think with more seasoning he could have continued smashing top 10 heavyweights?

To answer your question about what Brock Lesnar accomplished in this sport to earn the appreciation of the mixed martial arts world, the answer is business; lots and lots of business. Lesnar drove traffic for MMA websites, he consistently put up better numbers than anyone in the history of the sport for the UFC and his inimitable presence is responsible for a lot of fighters receiving the exposure they have over the last few years.

Quite frankly, if Brock Lesnar is the metric by which mediocrity is determined in the sport of mixed martial arts, then a whole lot of dudes need to step their games up.

 
Luke writes:  I know I may get a lot of flack for this but, Lesnar looked like he quit at UFC 141. He looked like he didn't want to be fighting there or ever again which is now the case. He was exciting but from the get go he was put against guys who were either smaller or not well accomplished.

I don't like Frank Mir but honestly that was his only quality win in the UFC. Couture was out-sized and Herring is a solid fighter with no upside at the time. Carwin wins that fight if he doesn't punch himself out. So, my question is- do you think Lesnar was purely a way to attract non-mainstream fans or did the UFC think he would honestly be they're new poster boy and would dominate the heavyweight division for years?

A: First of all, let me say that part of me is glad that I no longer have to worry about getting roped in to believing that the next Brock Lesnar fight is "the biggest fight in UFC history" only to see him go down the tubes after a missed takedown. Yes, part of me now wonders how the hell Brock Lesnar actually managed to beat Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Shane Carwin and Heath Herring, but I'm not about to go back and discredit his success in Octagon and neither should you.

Brock Lesnar isn't the most skilled heavyweight we've ever seen, but who else has faced a lineup anywhere near the caliber of Frank Mir, Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir again, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem in their first seven UFC fights? Lesnar, on basically no experience, faced those six men and won more than he lost. It would be foolish to look back on that as anything but incredible.

As far as what the UFC's intentions were when they brought in Brock Lesnar, the UFC saw money in telling the Brock Lesnar story. Whether Lesnar failed miserably upon his arrival or went down as the greatest heavyweight of all time, there was tons of money to be made in the Brock Lesnar business and the UFC was wise to take advantage.


Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct you "Ask the Torch" questions to mmatorch@gmail.com