What do we know about Lesnar?
Posted by Alan Conceicao on November 16th, 2008
There’s a lot of hyperbole this morning about the title win last night at UFC 91. Is it a paradigm shift in the UFC heavyweight division? Can we safely say that Brock has become the “next big thing”? How many questions do we still have to ask?
THE POSITIVES:
-Randy Couture was able to take down every opponent he ever faced up until last night. Lesnar proved his wrestling acumen by being able to shrug off his takedown attempts with ease.
-KOing Randy standing shows a clear progression in his striking. For sub experts he doesn’t want to go to the ground with, this is gonna be vital in terms of winning in the future.
-Lesnar was in the highest pressure situation of his career and didn’t overexert himself or create too many openings for Randy. That speaks volumes about his future.
-Couture cut him and he didn’t flip out. Lots of guys see their own blood and aren’t able to handle it.
Those are all important things that we needed to know, and they all speak well to the future of Brock Lesnar. However, its worth noting a number of things that are still unknowns before crowning Brock the next great dominant heavyweight.
THE QUESTIONS:
-The UFC’s heavyweight division is surprisingly bereft of known and respected top end talents. With Werdum’s sudden exit, the UFC’s heavyweight division has one “elite” name (Noguiera) a number of young developing talents (Carwin, Dos Santos, Velasquez), mid level competitors (Kongo, Gonzaga, Herring, Mir, Al-Turk) and a shocking number of mediocre fighters who’s place in the division is anywhere but the top (Justin McCully anyone?). There’s clearly no rush on the part of the UFC to reacquire Arlovski, Sylvia, or Barnett, nor any of the other guys who might pose problems for Lesnar sylistically (Kharitonov and Overeem come to mind).
-Its played out, but it cannot be ignored. Couture is 45 years old. He hadn’t fought in over a year. As fans, we may all love Randy, but that doesn’t mean he’s still a top end fighter. This very well might have been Randy getting old in front of our eyes. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure until we see him again.
-Brock was able to stand with Randy and found success, but Randy is not known as an elite striker. He’s never KOed anyone standing in his decade plus career.
The question of where to rank Brock is gonna be one to plague MMA fans for a long time. Sure, play the MMAth game and he’s above Andrei Arlovski, but do you penalize Arlovski for fighting more top end fighters for a longer period of time? By the same token, Brock then isn’t as good as Pe De Pano. Hopefully we get to see a “unification” bout sooner rather than later, as there is no question that a win over Noguiera would do an immense amount to prove Lesnar as an elite fighter. Until then, the enigma that is Brock Lesnar will only be more and more complex.