Brock Lesnar is now OFFICIALLY in the UFC

[Mik 0]

Not sure how this didn't get leaked ahead of time but Brock is signed, sealed, and delivered...confirmed after being interviewed by Joe. Despite Rogan calling him Brock Larson - it's going to be interesting to see how this goes.

 

Despite the fact that we all know Brock as a professional wrestler, he's probably already one of the most accomplished wrestlers in all of the UFC.

 

Who is the first opponent? (I guess a cupcake fight... I don't know Hardonk?)

 

What's the ceiling? (I'd say title contender at worst)

 

I'm excited.

[starvenger 0]

Hardonk is probably the logical choice, although there's gotta be some JTTS on the roster for Lesnar to pound on. Maybe Sinosic can move up to heavyweight.

[Mik 0]

Maybe they can get Brad Imes out of cobwebs?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

So which 'big name' heavy weights does Lesnar have a chance of beating?

 

It's really hard to say, none of us are able to see enough of Lesnars MMA skills to really tell. Lesnar is a great ahtlete and has great wrestling credentials, so that helps things. But his chin is untested, and who knows how good his stand up is, it's most likely poor.

 

It's going to be interesting who UFC matches him with.

[Just call me Dan 0]

Eddie Sanchez

[starvenger 0]

It's really hard to say, none of us are able to see enough of Lesnars MMA skills to really tell. Lesnar is a great ahtlete and has great wrestling credentials, so that helps things. But his chin is untested, and who knows how good his stand up is, it's most likely poor.

I just hope he doesn't try any shooting star presses as a celebration dance...

[AntiLeaf33 0]

If Cro Cop can get his shit together, there would be a big money fight with him and Brock.

[Hawk 34 0]

How were they promoting Lesnar? Is he being called "former heavyweight wrestling champion" or are they putting over his size?

[Mik 0]

NCAA wrestling champion. Pro wrestling was mentioned.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I'd go the Japanese route and give him Yoshiki Takahashi.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I imagine they'll feed him a couple of easy fights to build him for someone bigger. If Brock can put together some good striking he could be very scary.

[Ced 0]

I surprised UFC seemed to go out of their way to pick up Lesnar. A high 5-figure sum would disappoint me a bit, especially since he's unproven in terms of MMA talent.

 

I guess they'll throw a few tomato cans in his path to at least make him look credible. Maybe later on they can throw him at Sylvia. That'd either light a fire under Tim's ass to fight for his life or create the biggest vortex of suck 600 pounds of humanity can create in the Octagon.

[Lei Tong 0]

That'd either light a fire under Tim's ass to fight for his life or create the biggest vortex of suck 600 pounds of humanity can create in the Octagon.

 

*530 pounds, five or take

 

[Darthtiki 0]

Gonzaga/Lesnar?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

At this point in time, consider Lesnar, Mark Kerr. Any time you look at a potential fight for Lesnar, think "Mark Kerr would win"? And you have an approximation in regards to Lesnars success. Which is to say, he'd do real well against Krav Maga and made up Military fighting techniques. Against real fighters with good training? Not so with the much.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

If Brock can get someone down, their going to have a really hard time fighting him. The Korean guy he beat, while not very good, was a high level Judo guy (If I remember right), who should have been able to do something grappling wise. Brock took him down and just mauled him.

 

Brock has such great wrestling, and brute power that if he grabs you, you will most likely be in trouble. I really don't know how many people are going to be able to stop his shoot either. This is a 260-ish pound monster of muscle with great technique driving right for you. Brock's also going to be like Sapp was, in that while he might not have good submission defense (at first anyway), his sheer size and power is going to make submitting him very difficult.

 

Striking wise...Brock will have power in his punches, I think that much is for certain. It really depends on who he's been training with in regards to his form. If he can get some technique, he could easily KO people. He might KO people just by randomly swinging.

 

I have high hopes for Brock. He really has all the talent in the world to pull this off. He just has to dedicate himself to improving in other aspects.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You know who had an awesome shot and retard power?

 

 

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Mark Kerr was also a great fighter until he ruined his career through idiotic behavior and drug abuse, so I fail to see your point. If anything, comparing Brock Lesnar to Mark Kerr in his prime is quite the compliment.

[starvenger 0]

If Brock can get someone down, their going to have a really hard time fighting him. The Korean guy he beat, while not very good, was a high level Judo guy (If I remember right), who should have been able to do something grappling wise. Brock took him down and just mauled him.

This is all true, but let's face it - the Korean guy may be a high-level Judo guy, but he was a can there to make Lesnar look good (in a non-worked way).

[Insanity 0]

Gonzaga/Lesnar?

 

Jesus no. Gonzaga is extremely dangerous. Probably second to Noguiera as Brock's worst opponent to fight.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Mark Kerr was also a great fighter until he ruined his career through idiotic behavior and drug abuse, so I fail to see your point. If anything, comparing Brock Lesnar to Mark Kerr in his prime is quite the compliment.

 

Kerr was a great fighter when in there against the likes of Paul Varlens, Moti Horenstein and Gregg Stott. However, while Kerr had certain strengths which allowed him to look impressive against schlubs (including rules which befitted wrestlers), he had certain weaknesses and proved that being a really good wrestler isn't enough, even back 5 years ago.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

In this day and age Brock Lesnar having the skills of a dominant heavyweight about a decade ago is not a good sign. He'd probably get mauled by the majority of the division.

 

The heavyweight talent pool is shallow though, so his athleticism and wrestling should carry him far until he gets creamed by a really top fighter.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I like how everyone who is claiming Brock won't fair well are assuming that Brock's just gonna rely on his wrestling.

 

Yes, it'll be the basis of his style, but the man has been training for well over a year for MMA now. In his only fight, we didn't see what he was capable of, because he didn't need to show anything. He went in there, executed a gameplan, and crushed that man.

 

I think assuming that he won't have decent stand up, or submission defense, or at the very least rudamentary skills to exploit his strengths is naive.

 

It IS possible that he won't, but I doubt it. Brock's intelligent. I think he'll be prepared. This is all just guesses, but that would be mine.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I want to see about 2 or 3 more fights from him to get a better grasp on his talents.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He'll no doubt improve, but I'm gonna hold off until I see what he's really made of.

 

A lot of people don't realise that he wasn't even a great Champ at HW. Freestyle wrestling in the heavyweight division is more pathetic than the UFC HW division if you believe that. He got creamed by other American wrestlers that went on to compete at the international level.

[Rendclaw 0]

I'm interested to see how he fares and I agree with the Sapp comparison, in that he is so big and powerful he's going to be a handful for anyone, even if the skill level is in the opponent's favor.

 

And also, this smacks of a touch of desperation from Dana. He could not sign Fedor, Randy quit because of that and other issues, so now he has to make a splash to get his shine back.

 

I agree that he needs at least two or three tomato cans to pound on before he gets a shot at higher level talent. Build him up just like Paul Heyman did in the E, as an unstoppable force.

 

Until Gonzaga blasts him back to Minnesota with another high kick.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

But Sapp really wasn't much of a fighter. History has shown Sapp to be pure hype, as he never defeated anyone with an over .500 record with the exception of Kiyoshi Tamura, who he outweighed by a solid billion pounds. He got absolutely creamed by Fujita.

 

Lesnar could be something of a force in MMA, given his physical gifts, but I doubt he will be one if he doesn't have time to develop, which I doubt the UFC will let him do given how much they are probably paying him. And this is the UFC, so the odds of us seeing Yoshihisa Yamamoto across the ring from Brock is unlikely. One year training isn't enough by any means, especially if you want to be competitive. Brock should at least get a few amateur bouts under his belt before entering the big time, but I bet that sounds ridiculous to some given his pedigree, however it's the way real fighters develop.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

The UFC actually did a better job of developing fighters with promise I think. Fedor would have been given a few fights before being thrown into a title fight a few years ago, with solid opponents along the way. They threw him in a number one contender fight in his second fight in PRIDE. Nastula was given Noguiera, even though he showed lots of promise. All the TUF guys are proof that the UFC is very good at bringing up fighters.

[starvenger 0]

And also, this smacks of a touch of desperation from Dana. He could not sign Fedor, Randy quit because of that and other issues, so now he has to make a splash to get his shine back.

It does smack of that, yet the truth is that negotiations have probably been ongoing for a while. But as they say, timing is everything, and the Brock signing does seem like a desperation move in light of what's transpired since the last PPV

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

The UFC actually did a better job of developing fighters with promise I think. Fedor would have been given a few fights before being thrown into a title fight a few years ago, with solid opponents along the way. They threw him in a number one contender fight in his second fight in PRIDE. Nastula was given Noguiera, even though he showed lots of promise. All the TUF guys are proof that the UFC is very good at bringing up fighters.

 

But TUF is a system that is all about developing fighters, while Lesnar is brought in as a Box Office Attraction, which makes it a bit different. The novelty of Brock Lesnar: Fighter, will wear off after two or three fights, by which people will start bitching about him being protected and want to see him fight legit opposition. Four total fights isn't nearly enough to fight actually good fighters.

 

By the way they were lobbing softballs at Semmy beforehand, I think Schilt was meant to beat Fedor in that fight and then go-on to fight Nog for the title.

 

In general, UFC does a good job with bringing up a lot of their fighters. But those are actually good fighters that have proven themselves. Guys who have gotten their feet wet. UFC is more about competition than attraction, so while they won't be throwing for Lesnars head, it's hard to see them giving him a bunch of softballs either. Whereas PRIDE was all about giving freaks like Lesnar tee balls.