As he gets ready to fight Randy Couture at UFC 91, Brock Lesnar is engaging in some of the smack talk everyone expects of him. In an interview with The Sun, Lesnar says:"It's a huge fight, the biggest fight of the year, period.I find it fascinating that so many people are talking about the size of Lesnar's hands, and the custom-made gloves he wears. Are big hands really a big advantage in mixed martial arts?
"But all I am thinking about is November 15 and ramming my size XXXXL gloves into his mouth."
But I also find it fascinating that aside from that comment, Lesnar seems to have such genuine respect for Couture that he's not going to talk trash about him to the extent he has talked trash about his last opponent, Heath Herring, and even about the best heavyweight in MMA, Fedor Emelianenko.
Lesnar said:
"There are guys I admire as athletes and Randy Couture is one of them. He's a legend in MMA and it is an honour to get to fight him so early in my career.Lesnar also sounds like he wants to be an ambassador for MMA, saying, "It's the sport of the future. It's bigger than boxing in the USA and in the UK. There are no mismatches and fans get to see the best fights every single time they tune in."
"When I joined the UFC, Dana White told me I would be fighting the very best fighters in the world, that I would get no tomato cans.
"That's why I wanted in - I don't want to fight bums. I will leave that deal to other sports."
I don't know if fans are getting the best fight when they tune in to Couture-Lesnar, but I agree with Lesnar that we're less than two weeks away from the biggest fight of the year, and maybe in the history of the sport.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hey Brock, this aint the WWE. Couture is gonna make you tap in the first round real fast. You're a joke
It's bigger than boxing in the USA? You guys need to lay off the crack pipe. MMA ppv sales doesn't compare to boxings. Get real.
And what about merchandise sales? What about marketable stars? What about a growing and loyal fanbase? Does boxing have any of
the things that make MMA a sport on the rise?
Boxing isn't creating any new fans. I don't know anyone in the
lucrative 18-29 Male demographic that is a boxing fan but I see an
Affliction or Tapout t-shirt every time I leave my house. MMA's top
end stars are becoming recognizable media celebrities. My girlfriend
doesn't follow the sport but could likely pick Chuck Liddel, Brock
Lesner, and Randy Couture out of a crowd. I'm a huge sports fan and I can't tell you who the Heavyweight Champion is in Boxing. Then again this might have something to do with the number of Heavyweight champions in the sport.
Unless Boxing finds another "impact" Heavyweight (like another Mike
Tyson) it will continue to lose ground. Then again in this day
and age the next Mike Tyson is more likely to want to try an MMA
career.
Oh, and total PPV buys for both sports are actually fairly close
though there are far more mma PPVs.
Get real. Lesnar has a 2-1 record (both victories against B-level opponents at best). Couture's has the exact same win-loss ratio at 16-8 (for every two victories, a loss, losing to useless fighters such as Enson Inoue and Mikhail Illoukhine, including being brutally knocked out twice by some washed-up-never-was-any-good 205 pounder named Chuck Liddell who's losing to everybody these days. Fedor, has lost to no one, and has beaten everyone. If Couture, Lesnar and Liddell weren't a bunch of white Americans, no one would even be talking about them as being in the same universe as Fedor, let alone being anything close to top level fighters. Lesnar-Couture is an interesting fight, but neither fighter is even close to being a top level fighter. Get real.