FanPost

Et tu, Brock Lesnar?

Allow me to quickly preface this new article before I launch into my rant, I've been quiet as far as fan posts go for a reason. In a few weeks time I will be attending my first ever live UFC event, to see Matt Brown vs Erick Silva. My plan was to hold off on posting again until then to speak about the experience and break down the fights from cageside perspective. However I saw something that spurred me back into action to speak.

As much as we as fans of MMA attempt to separate the realms of professional wrestling and MMA, there is always going to be comparison in the uninformed. There are indeed some links between the two, men like Kazushi Sakuraba, Brock Lesnar, and Dave Batista all transitioned to MMA from pro wrestling, and stars like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Rampage Jackson have used their MMA experience to springboard to pro wrestling careers. However one man among those is perhaps the most inherently recognizable to the modern MMA fan.

Brock Lesnar made the transition to MMA as a springboard from a very successful career in the WWE, the former youngest champion in the history of the WWE, Lesnar was a wrestling standout all throughout his youth, and one time football standout. His imposing size and competitive personality meshed well with his natural skill, and his transition to a competitive capacity in MMA seemed a natural choice. Originally scheduled to face Choi Hong-man in his first match, Lesnar faced late replacement Min Soo Kim, pummeling him into submission within the first minutes of the fight. His first fight in the cage for the UFC was against Frank Mir, who despite Lesnar looking to ground and dominate him early in the fight, locked in a heel hook and submitted Lesnar in the first round. Despite this, he went on to win the UFC heavyweight title in his next two fights, defeating Heath Herring and Randy Couture. The latter half of his career was marred by illness, and after defeating Mir in a rematch to unify his belt with the interim title, and defeating Shane Carwin to do the same. Lesnar was beaten by current champion Cain Velasquez. Then again beaten by highly touted Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem, before retiring from competition.

The thing that words and his record don't show is the almost insane amount of love Brock gets from fans, his over the top personality, and "I don't care who I offend" attitude drew him much attention. Even I like Brock Lesnar, I rooted for him during the Overeem fight, and was disappointed in the fact he ended up retiring due to his health.

However, the thing I believe here, is that Brock Lesnar is simply consistently overrated. A good fighter? Yes, a great champion? Yes, but people who say that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Really? No offense, but I don't see it. His rise to fame was indeed meteoric and may have changed the landscape of the PPV as we know it. But I have a very hard time understanding the mindset that he's Hall of Fame material. I'd like to hear a few opinions from both sides of the fence now that my rant is concluded.