Evaluating Brock Lesnar's MMA debut

I apologize to my high school teachers and the entire English department at the University of South Carolina for the line "Read what Brock did good". Consider me grammatically chastened....

Lesnar was paired up with a guy who went 2-5 in MMA bouts, and it definitely showed in this bout. He was able to pass his guard easily, and ended up tapping due to strikes.... I dont think this was legitimate test for Lesnar. I'd like to see him fight mediocre competition.

You're 100% correct but IMO it was the right opponent for a guy making his MMA debut. Choi Hong-man would definitely have been a more interesting test due to his size and striking ability. Still, I don't think you give a guy that could potentially be a superstar in MMA based on name recognition alone that kind of test the first time out.

Absolutely, and man I can't believe he's going to fight Frank Mir at UFC 81. Mir is a former world champion and at one time was actually considered to be one of the most ddangerous heavyweights in the world. Besides Frank is a great wrestler himself and is much more seasoned so his striking is probably better. To be honest I give Lesnar a punchers chance against Mir. The only real way I could see him winning against Mir is to make him gas with frequent takedowns and controlling him on the ground. But even in pure physical strength Mir might be just as powerful as Lesnar but then again like I said before I could see him run out of gas.

Really he didn't even have to get out of a full guard. As soon as they hit the ground he was in half guard.

Definitely not surprised by the result. It is just the first step of many for Lesnar to prove that he can be a great MMA fighter.

He's definitely got a ways to go but he brings a world class amateur wrestling background to the table as well as considerable toughness. As I wrote in the article I would have liked to have seen him display his standup game as well as his submission skills and defense. Still, he showed a lot of nice qualities for an MMA fighter against an admittedly inferior opponent.

i didn't see it, does anyone have video footage?

Here you go http://www.megaupload.com/?d=COO2PQ5B

YouTube also has it as of a few minutes ago...just search on "Brock Lesnar K1"

He did what he was supposed to do against a lesser fighter. Lets see what else he can do in the MMA world.

Well put--he's definitely not ready to be thrown in against Fedor or Josh Barnett but I'm sure he knows that as well as anybody. He's young enough to bring him along slowly. I'm still of the opinion that you'll see him in a Zuffa owned promotion before long--he'd be a perfect fit in PRIDE where he's already a huge star in Japan due to his reign as IWGP champion in the New Japan pro wrestling promotion.

brock lesnar.. hes like an idle to me lol, but ya, he should be put up against the best, even though hes new and some may disagree with that, when your new to something, and your put in with some one you can toy on, it makes you feel good, but what are you learning? how strong you are, he knows that already, but him against the best so if he loses he knows what the best is and what it will take to beat the best, even though im a fan, puttin that aside, i think he can be a great mma fighter, and he should continue with it, to prove he can be one of the best, and may be the best in due time, hes big,strong,fast, can hit hard, he can wrestle ncaa champ, and he is also learning more grappling things, oncehe has made his stand up a little better and ground a little bit better,i think he will be almost unstopable, i mean standing up phes strong with fast hands and will hurt you, hes a wrestler so hes going to bring you down and hurt you there, theres no getting around it, and if he locks in a submission, with his strength, it wont take long to get them to tap, hes got great poential, it showed in his fight, it showed skill and just also that inside desire to hurt and fight, he passed the guard great, muscled through it, and when he was on top he showed that desire to hurt him by using his brain, when you on top most people hit the side of the head like he did, but alot of fighters dont try to push the head down to beat them in the face, it dont happen alot, but i think he needs bigger,stronger,faster, and more experienced fighters to prove him self, not some one whos 2-5 before they fight him, thats just my opinion

Brock Lesnar is the perfect heavyweight. He is a threat to any and every heavyweight MMA fighter. I know so because: 1) he's a NCAA champ 33-0 his senior year
2) professional wrestling makes you tough
3) he's 300

He is NO threat to any half way decent heavyweight. The 3 qualifications you mention dont mean much in MMA.

Sounds like a young, in awe child!. Size and strength play a role in MMA, but only to a point. Look at Royce Gracie....He beat guys that were much taller and heavier because he had technique, skills, determination and strategy.
The same can be said for boxing...if Lesner were to enter a fight against a middle weight fighter, he wouldn't last 3 rounds.
In his defense, however, Lesner does have extreme athletic ability, quickness and wrestling skills. If he can learn the striking and martial arts aspect of MMA, and keep his focus...which is really in question after what he has attempted to accomplish is Pro Football, Pro Wrestling and the such....He could have the potential of being a world champ!

Well, he does have a good wrestling record but it isn't the best around. And secondly ya he is about 295 but was his weight in prowrestling not fighting weight. Tim Sylvia fought as a pro boxer at around 330 pounds and pro boxing requires a hell of a lot more cardio that pro wrestling. I think personally his best weapon is his level of physical fitness, explosiveness, and strength.

Ha! You know ability when you see it...Unfortunately the days of Royce Gracie are over...In case you haven't noticed the more dominant MMA fighters are wrestlers. Look at those like Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Fedor, etc. Brock Lesnar is one of these types of fighters. Yes he needs to be much more than what he is now. He has the foundation,( unlike most) and working with the likes of your afore mentioned Royce Gracie and Pat Miletich Brock Lesnar is a threat.

Shut up ignorant ass.
Brock Lesnar can destroy Fedor, Crocop, Gabriel Gonzaga, Randy Couture even right now if he wants.

Okay, now that's rediculous.

the guy who thinks some wwe wrestling chump nobody can take out the cream of the mma world heavyweights based on his side maybe a you should watch cro cop vs fedors much larger brother and think about that statement

To many random WWE dick riders in this topic
guyz ITS ALL STAGED...WWE is not real.

I've been studying and watching fights for along time. Any discipline. I love Fedor, Couture. I will say this. Brock is ALOT stronger than he looks, he's very very controling on the ground, if he learns to finish. He will be very hard to beat. He's a farm boy, tough as a guy can get. With his wrestiling background he can hang with any heavywieght out there now and give them a match. He may get overwelmed by a Fedor with his standup. I'm just saying it won't be a walk in the park. He could be very very dominant. Some wrestlers never adjust to MMA though. We shall see. I know this, he can over power ANY current MMA heavyweight I've seen on the ground. He will take position at will with most. Now, will he get caught in a submission while doing that, probablly, they'll let him take a position to set up. He needs to learn this game!! He may be a champion one day. Just remember Mark Kerr, some of these wrestlers are used to being dominant. Once there not, or they have to get hit in the face. Well, that's a decideing factor. I do look forward to seeing the outcome.

All I can say is this...wrestling is not the same thing as fighting whether it's WWE or NCAA.

Brock is ALOT stronger than he looks? I dont think many can LOOK much stronger in my humble opinion

You're talking about a man who is 6' 4

Wow I had written like 3 paragraphs and this sh*t cut everything I wrote after a quotation mark I used for his height. What the hell I'm pissed.

If you want to test Brocks' power put him against Bob Sapp, someone like Couture could definately test his mat skills. All of it is a moot point until UFC signs him.

Brock aint the next big thing he the next flop wait till runs it to a BJJ black belt he NCAA mean F.. all in mma
like saying kurt angle is fit for mma he even sayed he put iceman in ankle look! LOL
come on ppl this aint WWE or pro wrestling NOR football
angel would be a better mma fighter but even there angel would go fare i say he couldnt even beat SHAMROCK and the shamrock of NOW not yesterday!

I still think the Hulkster would be the UFC Heavyweight Champ if he wanted to be! Can you deny the power of sayin' your prayers and taking your vitamins!

Brock so far looks like a ground and pound fighter. If you match him up with anyone with take down defence it will be a tough go. HAs anyone tested his cardio. We will see against Frank Mir Feb 2 2007

Well, I think his work ethic in general will give him a great cardio probably a lot better than Mir's. The only reason he is a ground and pounder is because wrestling is all he knows. Mir is absolutely destructive on the ground making it a submission clinic. Lesnar is going to take a hard shot in on Mir and get caught in a guillotine or try to just go crazy throwing punches and elbows all over the place and get caught in an arm bar or kimura within Frank's guard.

Test his cardio? Are you kidding? This guy was a NCAA Division 1 Champion. Number one in the country. A record of 105 wins and 5 losses. 33-0 i high school. His cardio is unmatched by probably 98% of all mma fighters.

mir is going to kill lesner this is his debut fight in ufc... i give dana props i thought he would have a opponent fed to him like k1 did and dana did the opposite it will be over in the 1st rd... on a side note that has nothing to do with brock, houston alexnader sucks and for everyone that jumped on the bandwagon wtf were you thinking his big headed ass got whooped

Lesner has the power to mame Mir, not to mention superior wrestling skills. Give him a few more fights with better competition and he will be unstoppable.

Frank Mir is done. He doesn't stand a chance he will gas then get pounded into oblivion. A motorcycle crash and a rod in your leg has that effect.

heres the match:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25l0g_k1-dynamite-usa-brock-lesnar-vs-min

I just watched Brock's first fight against that k1 dude, and let's face it, you can;t tell much about his MMA skills from that fight. it looks like a street fight. Brock tackled the guy, and pounded on his head. I will give him this much though, how many MMA fights have you seen where a guy taps because he is getting pucnhed so hard. Thi sis a testament of how strong and powerful Brocks must be. I know i wouldn;t want him beating on my head. He is a great athlete, a champion college wrestler, and an all around quckick and powerful fighter, but he lacks Martial Arts skill, and that could and most likely will be his fatal flaw, for now. I think with 2-3 solid years of training and fighting, after he transitions into MMA, he was GREAT potential. If he can maintain his size and power and gain some stand up and submission techniques, who is going to stop this guy.
One other point I have is, since this guys was in WWE, who's to say he wasn't shooting juice for all those years. I know the gusy are freaks of nature, and they are genetic mammoths, but let's face it, Roids is a big deal in Pro Wrestling, and up until a year ago, I don;t think they were testing for them as often as they should have. I'm not implying he does or did take roids, but he could have since WWE is a soap opra, and not a real sport, so there is probably not very stric drug testing. I thin Brock will prove himself worthy by maybe tossing Mir around a little bit, but I think Mir will win by either knock out with superior stand up, or submission due to superior MMA skills. But I'm sure Brock will make some noise in the octagon and have a few good take downs on Mir, but I think it's a paradox in that all Brock is really good at is putting dudes down and keeping them down, but in the MMA, a guy doesn;t lose from being pinned, so Mir, being a superior MMA fighter, is probably just as dangerous from his back than standing up. So Brock may be doing himself an injustice by aiming to take Mir down. His first fight was June, and the Mir fith isn;t until Feb 2. So he will have around 7 months of solid training for the fight, so he may come out a different guy then we saw in his first bout. I can;t wait for the fight, speculation can only go so far, and anything can happen.

Lesner has a chance, however let's see if he can fight EFFECTIVELY when he gets stunned or if he is bleeding.
You can't learn to fight while hurt in the gymno matter how good your training partners are.
Guys like Mir have have to keep fighting while hurt.
I want a slugfest before it goes to the ground.
The Mir fight will be a true test and let us see how far Lesner will go in MMA.
Kudos to Dana White for making Lesner earn his UFC debue.
I can't wait for Feb 2nd!

Dana white tests heavily for illegal drugs so if Brock is using now, he will get caught just like Tim Sylvia did a while ago .

I swear that I am not a troll... That being said,

Brock has a good chance in MMA, just as much potential as anyone else who came from a heavy wrestling background. Yes, he will need to learn, but so does every other newcomer. To the genius that said that wrestling background isn't important in mma needs to be drug tested himself. I hear a lot of people saying all that trash about WWE and not a sport, blah. Maybe it is a man's soap, but it still takes a lot of skill. Pro Wrestlers also probably do more hurt matches than anyone else.

Also let us not forget how bad Frank Mir has become. Since the wreck, he hasn't really came back. Not that he won't, it's just not the good ol' frankie.

JWO1124, you make a good and valid point about roids, however Brock as always displayed power in his ncaa days, where they did have primative testing. in his post wwf days trying out for the nfl, they must have did some testing there and we heard nothing. and i'm sure dana white is smart enough to make sure brock is clean before signing him, he doesn't want another roid scandal that would rock mma.

Everyone keeps talkin about how his technique hasnt developed enough and being a NCAA champ doesnt mean anything in the MMA, Chuck Liddel is one of the best in the buisness, and what the hell is he, a pure street fighter. You also underestimate his wrestling ability, not everyone can take the titles he has, much less as easy as he did. If you have ever seen him wrestle even the best people in the Nation, he walked right through them. He has raw talent and power, and will make that blatently obvious on sat.. my prediction, second round submission or KO. Hes not going to be fuckin around, hes gonna want to prove a point.

Exclusive video report here:
http://scandalous-news.com/video.html?v=Brock_Lesnar

you know i dont care what happend went in there and did what he said put his fist down frank mir throat did he win no but he made a rookie mistake who cares the guy is a beast and i hope to see more of him as the world champ of the ufc

Forget it Brock stick to play acting your good at that.Who else we gonna get to come to our sport and get outclassed and embarrassed Mayweather ? Lets hope so eh ,shut another big mouthed big ego up for good.

If Brock would have boxed Mir, he would have won that fight. He should have let Mir get up and punch him down some more. The outcome of the fight would have been completely different. Like prettyboi07 said . . . He made a rookie mistake. I think he will eventually develop a ground game.