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The Fairytale of UFC 116: Lesnar Earns His Crown… and MMA Fans get a Spectacular

By David Bateman

When Dana White describes an event as “the best night of his career”, you know it must be a good one.

UFC 116 will not be forgotten by any MMA fan in a hurry. That tends to happen when two FOTN bonuses are awarded in the same night (to Akiyama v Chris Leben and Krzysztof Soszynski v Stephan Bonnar respectively). Then, there is the not-so-small issue of Brock Lesnar.

It’s the closest thing MMA has to a fairytale. The UFC Heavyweight World Champion becomes unbelievably unwell, near death — then makes a triumphant return against possibly the most dangerous striker in MMA history. Love or loathe him, no one can deny Brock Lesnar the title of number one heavyweight in MMA, and not just because Fedor lost…

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Posted in Akiyama, Brock Lesnar, Chris Leben, David Bateman, George Sotiropoulos, Rankings, Shane Carwin, UFC | 3 Comments

UFC 116 Predictions

By Tommy Hackett

Say what you will about Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Say that they have only a handful of fights, that they perhaps don’t merit discussion with all time greats like Fedor Emelianenko, that the split screen interview segment hyping the bout recently for the TUF finale was the worst in history. Go ahead. Maybe I’ll join you (comfortably on my couch, and far away from them).

But they’ve made UFC 116, eminating live tomorrow night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a huge event. Despite the loss of Wanderlei Silva (who pulled out due to injured ribs), the show is sold out and Dana White predicts a million PPV buys. Two of the biggest and baddest in our sport’s short history are set like planets waiting to collide, and it looks like the whole world is watching. So who’s coming out on top? Read on…

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Posted in Brock Lesnar, Bryan Belangia, Jacob Lawton, Shane Carwin, UFC | 4 Comments

UFC’s King Kong: The Age of UFC’s Spectacle Begins

By Dave Walsh

Let’s face facts here, the discussion of Sport of Spectacle is one that has raged when it comes to the UFC for years now, and as we saw last night at UFC 100, it shows no signs of slowing down. Dana White has long been an advocate of Mixed Martial Arts being promoted as a “sport.” Scathing critiques of K-1 and formerly PRIDE for their affliction for freakshow fights to fill up cards, attract media attention and fill up arenas. Unleashing a beast in the theater only meant it would soon go berserk and nobody would love it anymore, or love the carny promoter. The shine wears off.

Dana White, as much as I’m not a fan, is not a stupid man. He has gone on record saying that freakshows are not how you build a brand or a sport. They are short term solutions that just end up hurting in the long run. The growth that you see out of freakshow interest is not sustainable growth. The people that tune in to see a freakshow are not going to purchase your t-shirts, they aren’t going to travel to your basic shows, they aren’t going to order your lesser cards and spread the word to their friends.

So then the real question is, has the UFC lost sight of this very simple concept with freakshow fights? The signing of Brock Lesnar was the first sign that UFC was starting to really reach with their big draws like Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock no longer in the mix and the crop of stars that they built during the TUF explosion were starting to lose their luster; Chuck Liddell was looking like a shell of himself, Randy Couture was holding their title ransom, Rich Franklin was decimated by Anderson Silva whose non-company-man attitude wasn’t doing them any favors.

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Posted in Brock Lesnar, Dave Walsh, UFC | 6 Comments

What do we know about Lesnar?

By Alan Conceicao

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?

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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Brock Lesnar, UFC | No Comments

UFC 91: Lesnar vs. Couture

By Lee Casebolt

Let’s be honest here. Saturday’s UFC (I don’t bother to count them anymore) is pretty much a one fight card. I mean, all due respect to Tamden McCrory, no one’s tuning in to watch him and Dustin Hazelett, however good their matchup might be. Demian Maia might be a top up and coming middleweight, but his bout with Nate Quarry is a keeping-busy fight. And why are Jorge Gurgel and Aaron Riley even on a UFC card? Did we go back in time five years and no one tell me?

No, if you’re shelling out the bucks to see this show, you’re there for one reason and one reason only – to see if Brock Lesnar really is the next big thing in MMA, or if Randy Couture can pull off yet another miracle win over what appears to be a physically superior opponent. On one side, you’ve got (comparative) youth, size, speed, and power. On the other, experience, savvy, and legendary conditioning. So how does tomorrow’s main event go? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Brock Lesnar, Lee Casebolt, Randy Couture, UFC | 3 Comments

UFC 87 Countdown: Brock Lesnar’s Second Chance

By Dave Walsh

We’ve been here before with Brock Lesnar, and really, we aren’t in any different of a place now than we were when Brock Lesnar met Frank Mir in February. At the time, there was a lot of hype and conjecture surrounding the debut of Lesnar in the UFC. Would Lesnar simply steamroll Frank Mir? Did Lesnar train in every aspect of the game? Is he a natural? Is he a fluke? In the end, what we saw was Lesnar go hard and fast against Mir and make a silly mistake that most fighters with even an ounce of seasoning wouldn’t make: give up your leg to a kneebar and not know how to escape it. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Brock Lesnar, UFC | 7 Comments

Lesnar vs. Coleman: Coleman Comes Full Circle

By Jonathan Snowden

They say what goes around comes around. And it’s come full circle for former UFC and Pride Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman. In 1996 the young and hungry Coleman was face to face with a washed up old wrestler named Dan Severn. In August, when Coleman sees a washed up old wrestler staring back at him, it will be because he’s looking in a mirror. Now, he’s Dan Severn and Brock Lesnar is Mark Coleman. He’s the stepping stone for the young and hungry rising star. What goes around comes around.
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Posted in Brock Lesnar, Jonathan Snowden, Mark Coleman | 1 Comment

In Between A Brock and a Hard Place

By Bill Thompson

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By: Bill Thompson
Powerful, energetic, exciting, fast, freakish, and highly skilled are all adjectives that can be used to describe Brock Lesnar. All of this was put on display last night in his bout against Frank Mir. From the start people wanted to dismiss the UFC’s signing of Brock as nothing more than a sideshow attraction. Their signing of Brock was certainly nothing more than an attempt to make a few bucks off of a former professional wrestling superstar, correct? Last nights fights should have shown that not to be the case, that Brock Lesnar is all the adjectives described above and that he is a great addition to the UFC’s heavyweight roster. Unfortunately I think somewhere along the line the UFC themselves forgot this fact and as described above decided to try and make a quick buck off of Brock instead of waiting for the long term investment to develop. There is still time to rectify that erroneous assessment, but the real question lies in whether or not the UFC will be smart enough to take advantage of the best heavyweight to possibly ever come down the pipe line or if they will watch him fall to the wayside.
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					Posted in Bill Thompson,  Brock Lesnar,  heavyweight division |
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The Fairytale of UFC 116: Lesnar Earns His Crown… and MMA Fans get a Spectacular

UFC 116 Predictions

UFC’s King Kong: The Age of UFC’s Spectacle Begins

What do we know about Lesnar?

UFC 91: Lesnar vs. Couture

The Biggest Fight in UFC History?

Brock Lesnar: Champ or Chump?

UFC 87 Countdown: Brock Lesnar’s Second Chance

Lesnar vs. Coleman: Coleman Comes Full Circle

In Between A Brock and a Hard Place