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With the shocking news that the formerly estranged UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has signed a new three fight contract with the UFC, there was nothing that could shock the MMA community anymore, except for who Randy Couture’s first fight in over a year would be against. For that opponent would be the former multi-time WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who has only fought three professional MMA fights.
Although most of the MMA world and Randy Couture himself wants to have Randy Couture versus Fedor Emelianenko, Randy Couture will have to deal with the former wrestler first. This fight will be for Randy Couture’s UFC Heavyweight Title, with the winner facing the winner of the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Frank Mir fight in early 2009.
As I mentioned earlier in this column, Brock Lesnar has fought in only three professional MMA fights with victories over Heath Herring (UFC 87) and Min Soo Kim (K-1 Hero’s Dynamite USA), while suffering his lone MMA loss to Frank Mir (UFC 81). Lets take an opportunity here to examine the three professional fights Brock Lesnar has had a little closer.
The professional MMA debut for Brock Lesnar occurred in June 2007 in the K-1 Hero’s Dynamite USA event against Min Soo Kim. Some people have described this fight as a “cupcake fight” for Brock Lesnar as he easily took Min Soo Kim down and quickly pounded him into submission. Easy fight or not, Brock Lesnar was able to show MMA fans that he has the potential to be a star in MMA.
The next fight for Brock Lesnar was his Ultimate Fighting Championships debut against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. This fight had some controversy when early in the opening round, referee Steve Mazagatti halted the fight and penalized Brock Lesnar one point for illegal strikes to the back of Frank Mir’s head. After a brief rest period, Frank Mir was able to force Brock Lesnar to tap out to a heel hook, but more importantly, the UFC fans saw Brock Lesnar as a future champion.
Brock Lesnar’s third fight took place last month at UFC 87 against one of the top heavyweight fighters in the UFC, Heath Herring. The was the Brock Lesnar coming out party as Brock Lesnar caught Heath Herring early in the fight with a right to the face and then grounded Heath Herring for three rounds to secure a decision victory.
Now, let me make something clear real quick, I’m not arguing against a Randy Couture/Brock Lesnar fight, I’m discussing the decision to make it for the UFC Heavyweight Title. While Brock Lesnar is on the verge of having an excellent MMA career, he has yet to cross the threshold of being the top contender for any championship in the UFC.
Lets take a look at a possible scenario for a moment and assume that Randy Couture loses the fight and the UFC Heavyweight Title to Brock Lesnar. First, that could possibly set up a UFC 81 rematch with Frank Mir for Brock Lesnar or a first time fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. However, Randy Couture will then be a former UFC Heavyweight Champion who lost his title to a fight who is only competed in his fourth professional fight.
How will that effect his bargaining power when the talks of the Randy Couture versus Fedor Emelianenko fight arise again?
One thing in Brock Lesnar’s favor right now and what probably got him the title fight is the lack of contenders in the heavyweight division right now. When you come to think about it, who else could have gotten the title fight against Randy Couture at this point in time? Other possible contenders or lack there of included Mark Coleman (hasn’t fought since PRIDE closed), Gabriel Gonzaga (lost two of last three fights), Antoni Hardonk (on a two fight win streak), Heath Herring (lost three of five UFC fights), Cheick Kongo (won five of seven UFC fights), Jake O’Brien (lost last two UFC fights), Eddie Sanchez (hasn’t won a fight in nearly a year), Cain Velasquez (undefeated in UFC/MMA) and Fabricio Werdum (holds victories over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera).
So, Brock Lesnar’s title opportunity may not have come out of him being a true top contender to the UFC Heavyweight Title, but due to the lack of contenders for the title. So the expression “sometimes you just get lucky” may actually hold very true to the very inexperienced Brock Lesnar. In an interesting note, if Brock Lesnar were to win the UFC Heavyweight Title in November, he would be the least experienced fighter (it would be his fourth professional MMA fight) to hold a UFC championship.
It will be debatable for a long time if Brock Lesnar is worthy of a UFC Heavyweight Title opportunity, but either way, it happens in November at UFC 91.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
