Brock Lesnar's Legacy

A look at Brock Lesnar's legacy in the UFC

With Brock Lesnar’s recent bout with diverticulitis, and his subsequent surgery, which reportedly removed 12 inches of his colon, the UFC heavyweight will be out till at least early 2012. And who knows? This could spell the end of his fighting career. After all, health is everything: without it there isn’t much. It’s not like he needs the money. Lesnar could retire now and still provide his family with everything they need. Considering the gravity of the situation, it’s a good time to take a look at what Lesnar has meant to mixed martial arts.

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The former NFL tryout and pro wrestling star had his first MMA fight June 2, 2007. His current record is 5-2. In that time he has won and lost the heavyweight title, and broken PPV buy records with his star power, despite relying on his size, speed, athleticism and wrestling. Without stellar stand-up or submissions, Lesnar is still a force, and will always be an unsolvable puzzle for certain fighters in the division---those who can’t deal with the size, speed and top control. But it’s not the first time a relative so-so fighter with a so-so record propped up the UFC.

Remember the Griffin-Bonnar fight? It wasn’t skill, technique or implementation that these fighters brought to the octagon that fateful day when TUF season one wrapped up: it was pure heart and determination. Griffin also eventually won and lost a UFC belt, and both he and Bonnar have become great 205 pounders. The lesson is that good stories sell.

Jon Bones Jones is a far more impressive picture than Lesnar when you look at the numbers. His first fight was April 12, 2008, well after Brock's first fight. In less time than Lesnar has been around, Bones has  racked up a 13-1 record (14-0 really), and won the belt. No one questions whether or not Jones deserves the belt, and few doubt he’ll keep it a long while. Lesnar never got that kind of respect.

One can not underestimate the pull the UFC took on the WWE cigar. The UFC has been diligently and intelligently seeking and luring fans since Zuffa took over. Signing Lesnar and thrusting him into headliners was good for the organization, even if it wasn’t good for fan’s opinion of the big guy. Lesnar brought to the UFC a demographic no other fighter could have brought. Dana knew this from the start.

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But it’s easy to question a man who gets a UFC title shot with what was then a 2-1 record. Actually, writing it down reveals its utter idiocy. It’s obvious that, as scary a heavyweight as Lesnar is, his slide was greased like no one else's. Pure promo. That’s just a fact that contributed to disrespect some fans showed.

Lesnar’s win over the much smaller Couture, which won him the title, was less than spectacular. Couture stuck  around and made Lesnar look human in the grappling department. Brock’s destruction of Mir evened their score at 1-1, and was due, in part, to Mir not realizing half-guard doesn’t work with every kind of fighter, certainly not with Brock. It was Lesnar’s ability to take Carwin’s punches and to come back and sink an arm triangle in round two that elevated him to ‘real’ status.  Carwin had been undefeated till Lesnar, with a string of devastating first round KOs. Then Cain entered Lesnar's world.

Cain Velasquez brought the big man down to earth in less than one round, in more ways than one, indicating again how difficult it is to run the heavyweight gauntlet. Now, with Lesnar out, perhaps for good, many questions hang unanswered:

Could Lesnar learn from the loss to Cain and rebound with a win in a rematch? Could Mir learn from his mistakes, come back from his loss and take out the big man?  Would Carwin come into a rematch with the final piece to the puzzle and mash Lesnar’s face between glove and mat? We might never know. However, while these questions are interesting to ponder, they are not pressing.

Lesnar is a contender gone down, not champ. No one likes interim champs, and no one would like an interim becoming permanent if a champ couldn't make it back into the cage. We fans won’t have to speculate through the ages whether Brock could have kept the belt for a year or two or three. We know. So the only thing that matters is that Brock gets better.

If Brock is done, though, his star will fade----a 5-2 record couldn't do much but pale over time.  Maybe that will be his motivation to enter the Octagon and take another run at the title.

By Renko Styranka
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer