Anderson Silva and Tim Sylvia won at UFC 77 Saturday night, but the name everyone will want to talk about today is Brock Lesnar.
Silva retained his middleweight title belt with a TKO over the fan favorite (but overmatched) Rich Franklin at 1:07 of the second round. Sylvia beat Brandon Vera by unanimous decision to establish himself as a contender for the UFC heavyweight title, which Randy Couture has vacated.
But in UFC's ongoing efforts to become a mainstream sport, the biggest news of the night comes from outside the Octagon. UFC announced that it has signed Brock Lesnar, the former NCAA All-American wrestler who later went on to stardom in the WWE. Right now, he's the most famous heavyweight in UFC, and although I don't think he'll ever be a UFC champion, I do believe he has the athletic talent necessary to become a contender.
Taking big-name guys from pro wrestling isn't a business model that will be successful in the long run for UFC, but in the short term, it could work quite nicely. UFC lost a star when Couture left, and now it has added one in Lesnar.
Silva retained his middleweight title belt with a TKO over the fan favorite (but overmatched) Rich Franklin at 1:07 of the second round. Sylvia beat Brandon Vera by unanimous decision to establish himself as a contender for the UFC heavyweight title, which Randy Couture has vacated.
But in UFC's ongoing efforts to become a mainstream sport, the biggest news of the night comes from outside the Octagon. UFC announced that it has signed Brock Lesnar, the former NCAA All-American wrestler who later went on to stardom in the WWE. Right now, he's the most famous heavyweight in UFC, and although I don't think he'll ever be a UFC champion, I do believe he has the athletic talent necessary to become a contender.
Taking big-name guys from pro wrestling isn't a business model that will be successful in the long run for UFC, but in the short term, it could work quite nicely. UFC lost a star when Couture left, and now it has added one in Lesnar.