Brock Lesnar's doubters continue to look for reasons, even after Saturday's fight, to disparage him as a fighter. What they're missing is that Saturday he displayed a quality we hadn't seen in him before - the intangible heart and ability to take punishment. His performance Saturday reminded me of Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira and Fedor Emelianenko, two of the most respected fighters in heavyweight MMA history
Nogueira's entire legend was built upon an ability to withstand inhuman amounts of punishment before earning shocking wins in come-from-behind fashion. His victory over Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 stands out as a great example of this.
Well on his way to losing the fight in February of 2008, as Sylvia battered and bruised him throughout the first two rounds, Nogueira pulled off a guillotine submission victory in the third to become the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Emelianenko, in his own way, built his legend on his ability to overcome adversity in fight after fight. Eating some tough punches from Brett Rogers against the cage, being put on his back and taking shots from Mark Hunt, getting suplexed onto his head by Kevin Randleman and some would argue getting out struck by Andrei Arlovski, Fedor always found a way to win his fights.
Lesnar's victory on Saturday night was no different. Pressed back to the cage by the hardest punching heavyweight fighter in the game, Carwin knocked Lesnar to the ground. But Lesnar covered up, and he defended.
Referee Josh Rosenthal deserves the praise he has received. There are many referees who would have stopped this fight; they would have been wrong to do so.
Carwin threw tons of strikes, from winging punches to a few vicious forearms and elbows that got through, but Lesnar intelligently defended himself. He kept his arms up, blocking most of the strikes. He even managed to kick Carwin off of him twice during the struggle.
Lesnar was never hurt so badly that he couldn't defend against Carwin's strikes. Getting hit like that wasn't his gameplan, obviously, but getting back to his feet and resting while not getting punched late in the round helped prepare him for what he did in the second round. He even landed a knee late in the round.
Carwin was fatigued. Lesnar taking Carwin to the ground and applying a textbook arm triangle choke showed he had plenty of gas left in his tank. Despite the onslaught of the first round, Lesnar was the fresher fighter. The way he took advantage of his exhausted opponent to apply the submission was no different than Nogueira doing the same to Sylvia just two years ago, but because it's Brock Lesnar - in merely his sixth MMA fight - many fans still don't want to acknowledge his win was as legitimate as some of the greats who preceded him in the division.
As much credit as Lesnar deserves for how he won, and as much as some are underrating what he showed on Saturday night, he still has holes in his game. His striking needs major improvement. He has to learn to avoid taking that kind of punishment, although Carwin may be the only fighter on the horizon with the ability to man-handle Lesnar like that. Lesnar has fought six times. He will get better. He has shown he is getting better every fight. He expressly says he is evolving as a fighter and learning all the time.
He's got an excellent wrestling base, a clearly better ground game than he has been given credit for, and a lot of power in his hands. This much we knew coming in, but he's now added the heart and determination that can put him on par with the best and most revered fighters in the history of the sport.
Those who refuse to see this for what it is are short-changing Lesnar and themselves as fans, because we are witnessing the continuing evolution of what could very well be one of the greatest fighters this sport will ever see. He's still in the early stages and has a long way to go to earn that distinction, but with what Lesnar showed on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, I'm not seeing anyone in the game right now who can defeat him.
Some will continue to discredit his accomplishments at every turn, likely due to an unjustified resentment of his few years performing for WWE. Lesnar, though, is a one-of-a-kind fighter that we're not likely to see again. Now it's time for those fans to realize that we are firmly entrenched in the Brock Lesnar Era. It's time to get on board.
RELATED STORY: PARK: Questions answered as Brock Lesnar submits Shane Carwin at UFC 116: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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I think Lesnar is a bit of a freak of nature, in that he's huge and still
nimble. That's more unique than rare. By the way, Shane is made of the same
stuff, albeit not quite as good a wrestler as Lesnar.
As for Fedor: I don't think the loss against Fabricio is what takes shine
from his glory; it's the fact that they have been feeding cans to Fedor for
years, that does! Maybe Fedor is, indeed, better than the UFC heavyweights
- or maybe he isn't, we can't tell by just looking at Fedor's fight record
from the last 4-5 years, because none of those fighters that Fedor beat,
were of Lesnar, Shane, Cain or Junior caliber.
Blowtorch
04 Jul 2010, 15:53
dude, he's not a BIT of a freak of nature. He's the most unusual freak of
nature in the history of athletics.
Blowtorch
04 Jul 2010, 15:55
@Jamie: Good angle, I hadn't made that comp yet. Pretty cool that with SO
much to digest in the last 17 hours that you came up with a unique view of
things. You are to be commended for that.
Voiceinthedesert
05 Jul 2010, 10:09
Excellent analysis. But why did you have to taint it by bringing Fedor
into it?
Fedor is not in Brock's or Snane's league. Bringing him into the
discussion only weakens your point.
Sorry for throwing the flowers, then hurling the flower pot, but man...that
Russian guy and his zealot fans grind my gears...
Voiceinthedesert
05 Jul 2010, 10:12
That said, the Gracies are punks, sign up for Death Clutch BJJ today!
Facepalm
06 Jul 2010, 09:31
So, Fedor sucks and the Gracies are punks... insightful.
This sport has experienced a huge douchebag influx since the UFC went all
NFL. Just sayin'.
Voiceinthedesert
06 Jul 2010, 19:10
@Facepalm,
This is called satire, for f%$*& sakes!
(except for the part about Fedor, he is a myth like the sasquatch and
eskimos...)
Doublefacepalm
07 Jul 2010, 13:07
And again... insightful.
I would look up the word satire. I do not think it means what you think it
means.
Doublefacepalm
07 Jul 2010, 13:44
And seriously, this is some B.S. analysis. How can you possibly compare
Lesnar, who has fought a total of about 5 rounds professionally, with two
guys who were on top of the sport for extended periods of time? AND fought
much higher quality opposition when they were?
He is good money for UFC, end of story. It would be interesting to learn
where all these MMA "experts" that have popped up on the web get their
expertise... my guess is pulling it our of their a$$.
Voiceinthedesert
07 Jul 2010, 14:55
@Doublehairypalm
You are right, sir. Lesnar sucks. He is nothing but a dumb redneck
wrassler. How dare he learn martial arts and bring his worthless NCAA D1
wrestling with him.
He has zero mma skills.
As a purist I am deeply offended that a wrassler would usurp the title of
undisputed heavyweight champion!
Thanks for setting me straight.
I accept Lord Fedor as my personal saviour...
Voiceinthedesert
07 Jul 2010, 15:01
@Doublehairypalm
"satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive
social criticism, using wit as a weapon"
Have a nice day, try again...
BTW, English is my second language, I have a classical education. I do
understand the subtleties of the English language.
Trying again
07 Jul 2010, 16:58
Congratulations on your myriad educational accomplishments... and yet
somehow, you missed the point again.
The point isn't that Brock's a wrestler, it's that he's a newcomer to MMA
who has proven very little. Trying to hype him as the next Fedor or
Noguiera, both of whom have a LOT more fighting experience is premature at
best, half-assed opinion at worst. This article seems like the latter.
And notice the word "wit" in that defintion of satire. Didn't see any of
that.
Voiceinthedesert
07 Jul 2010, 17:33
@Dying again
OKaaaay! Let's make some comparisons, shall we?
Since Brock began his career
Brock defeated:
- Shane Carwin
- Frank Mir
- Randy Couture
- Heath Herring (not top 10, but a tough second fight in the UFC)
- Min Soo Kim (not top competition, I agree)
In the same span, Fedor fought:
- Werdum (loss)(first legit top 10)
- Brett Rogers (green fighter)
- Andrei Arlovski (washed-up)
- Tim Sylvia (a joke)
- Hong Man Choi (a gigantic joke)
- Matt Lindland (a middleweight)
I would say that Brock compares pretty well...
BTW, Brock started to train for mma since 2006. He started his career in
mid 2007.
The author of this article merely compared Brock to Nog and Fedor with
regards to his ability to sustain punishment and get the win.
Please read before you make comments. If you do not know whereof you
typeth, your fingers are best used for gold mining...
Good times
08 Jul 2010, 16:00
Yoish. Don't know what the point is, but here goes...
Comparing the same "time periods" has no meaning whatsoever; Brock has been
fighting since 2008, Noguiera debuted in '99, Fedor in 2000 (I think).
That's a lot more experience for Fedor and Noguiera, AND a lot more time
for wannabe experts to watch them perform and gauge their strengths and
weaknesses.
So, a writer trying to gauge their respective abilities to "sustain
punishment" (as if that's anything but a ridiculous, subjective category)
would have a hard time if they were being honest, or had any real insight.
Voiceinthedesert
08 Jul 2010, 18:47
@Good times,
Ability to sustain punishment and come back to win are very observable
abilities. They may not be able to be recognized by any sanctioning body
or measured scientifically, but can be objectively discussed.
THAT IS THE POINT.
BTW, I my self have competed in wrestling, practice Jiu-Jitsu and train in
self-defence for my employment. I do understand about taking and
inflicting punishment.
Also, pain and punishment transcends time and knows no boundaries.
Next time, arrange your thoughts and develop them before calling people
dishonest or uninsightful.
Fightfan
12 Jul 2010, 20:07
Fedor should be fighting at 205, he just likes his ice cream and vodka too
much to move down lol, he weighed in at the chubbiest 229 lbs I've seen. On
to a more serious subject though.
Lesnar took an ass whooping and came back from it ie he pulled a page out
of the Big Nog playbook. The shots that Carwin landed cleanly would've put
95% of all fighters to sleep, how many of those shots could Fedor have
taken? Lesnar is still new to MMA and for what he has done with the limited
amount of experience he has is incredible.
6 MMA fights, already the UFC Heavyweight Champion and already defended the
title twice. He has got alot of work to do yet, his stand up light years
behind his wrestling and he knows that. Expect him to devote 90% of his
training time to improving his stand up, he has to if he wants to be an all
around destroyer.
