The guessing game of Brock Lesnar’s first UFC opponent is finally over. While we may have thought the UFC was going to dump a can into the ring with the ex-WWE wrestler, they did exactly the opposite. They put a fighter that Lesnar supposedly hand-picked to fight during his first battle in the cage in February ‘08. It won’t be another 1-0 fighter. It’s certainly not someone who hasn’t been up against some of the better fighters in the division. It’s not Andre Arlovski. It’s against someone with a ‘mere’ 12 fight advantage. Frank Mir, that is.
While Frank Mir may not be one of your top 10 heavyweights in the world right now, he’s certainly leaps and bounds ahead of the UFC’s newest supposed rising star. Brock Lesnar, Divison 1-A college wrestler turned WWE wrestler turned MMA fighter, has only fought once - Against Min Soo Kim. Kim is 4-6. Kim has beaten other no name fighters like Jin Ho Yang (2-2), Yoshihisa Yamamoto (7-17), Sean O’Haire (1-2), and the illustrious Minowaman (who has lost to every big name in heavyweight history in the past 11 years). Let me get to the point. Lesnar has a long way to go before fighting someone who has already beaten Tim Sylvia (Mir actually broke his arm) for a vacant UFC heavyweight championship belt during UFC 48.
You can certainly defend of Lesnar and say that his college wrestling skills and overall superior athleticism will assist him against a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler like Mir. After training with Lesnar, The Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight Brad Imes thought differently.
I think he’s got a lot of potential. His stand up is really kinda nonexistent, but he’s obviously a big powerful guy. And his ground game…I know, he’s a D-1 national champ but I think he’s pretty rusty as far as his ground game. I was able to pass guard on him, mount him, do whatever I wanted with him on the ground really. And he really didn’t feel that strong to me, granted I don’t grapple with anyone that feels strong to me. But, I think that one of his strengths when he was in college was that he was much stronger than everyone he went up against; and heavyweights, no matter what the sport . . . it is hard to find good ones. So, I think if he sticks with it he’ll be great. I just think it was a mistake going to the UFC so quick. And I say that from someone who knows.
Keep in mind that Imes is a monster on the ground as he has demonstrated his superior Jiu-Jitsu skills with repeat Gogoplata wins and 7 of his 9 wins coming from submission. With this background comes an opinion that I can respect with regards to the ground game.
Six of Mir’s 10 wins have come by submission which gives him a definite edge on the ground and if Lesnar wants to keep his UFC record similar to his D-1 wrestling record, he’ll need to keep Mir on his feet. After all, Mir’s three losses have all come from a KO. Lesnar will not suffer from either a height nor weight disadvantage (he is approximately 6′2″ while Mir is 6′1″) which may be just enough to give him the confidence to come out of his corner aggressively.
Remember, Lesnar is up against a reputable fighter, not a can. I’m expecting a good fight that will go to the ground early.
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November 6th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
It an interesting issue and one that we will see again…How do you promote cross over athletes whose earning potential greatly out weighs their MMA skill/experience.