Where to go with Brock Lesnar

If you follow mixed martial arts to any degree at all you are aware that last weekend the elder statesman of MMA was hit by a truck named Brock Lesnar. We fans anticipated a classic match up of an intellectual veteran with a raw but physically dominant naïf. What we got was the UFC equivalent of Waterloo. It is cliché but accurate to say Lesnar was too big, too strong, and too quick for the badly undersized Couture to handle. Giving up 60 pounds and several inches was more than Randy’s skill and experience could compensate for. Couture’s background is in wrestling; when you as a wrestler can’t get your opponent off his feet (as we saw Couture try and fail multiple times against Lesnar) what is left is pure pugilism and, while Randy might be more skilled in that particular area, on their feet Lesnar’s sheer power was simply overwhelming.

After Lesnar/Couture we’ve got to start considering that perhaps sheer physical ability is superior to skill, at least in the current UFC Heavyweight division. What I’m not saying is that Lesnar isn’t skilled. I don’t know if I’ve seen a fighter improve more from fight to fight than Lesnar has from Lesnar/Mir to Lesnar/Gonzaga to Lesnar/Couture. What I am saying is that if you cut Lesnar’s game into “skill” and “physical ability” it is currently his physical ability that is winning fights for him.

Where I’m going with all this is a question. If we concede –as I believe to be true - that Lesnar is not just the most physically gifted combatant in the UFC Heavyweight division but one of the most gifted fighters in the world then what fight do we most want to see him involved in? We know what his next fight is going to be: the winner of Mir/Minotauro. I’ll just be honest: I don’t want to see a fight between Lesnar and whoever comes out of Mir/Minotauro. Now, I have to concede that Mir/Minotauro vs. Lesnar is the fight he should have to fight next. In fact, I would argue that both Mir (who obviously beat Lesnar) and Minotauro (holder of the interim title) should have both gotten a crack at Randy before Lesnar. However, that isn’t what happened. Dana (I doubt [insert UFC match maker] was behind the Lesnar/Couture match) hit fast forward on Lesnar’s career and in hindsight who can blame him? However, both Mir and Minotauro present another match up of skill verses Lesnar’s physicality. We’ve seen Lesnar/Mir already. Lesnar beat on Mir the whole time until Mir, being a smarter fighter, caught Lesnar trying to step across him and locked in a submission hold. Minotauro is, like Mir, a great fighter but replicates a lot of what Randy and Mir bring to the table. Yes, Minotauro has deep Jiu-Jitsu mojo and I know there is a difference between wrestling and JJ. What I’m saying is regardless of whether it is wrestling or JJ you are still looking at someone hoping that the thing they do best, their most developed skill, will be better than Lesnar’s Juggernaut impression. I’ve seen that theme explored twice (the Mir and Couture fights) and I’m ready for something new.

The best analogy I can think of is automotive. Let’s say you come out of your house and some generous benefactor has left you one of the new supercharged Corvettes that make eleventy million horsepower at the rear wheels in your driveway. You could take it over to a road course and run it against a bunch of souped up Civics and Skylines. You might even win on sheer horsepower. Or, on the other hand, you could take your new Vette to a high-speed banked oval and just let that monster run. I’m in the camp that heads for the oval. A Vette like that is built to run wide open, not be slammed into turns and switchbacks. You get my drift (pun not intended)?

I want to see the monster named Lesnar fighting another monster. Bring on Godzilla, bring on Jason Vorhees. Let’s see what happens when you put someone in front of him he can’t just overpower. And who is the one Heavyweight in the world which could possibly match him in the physically-gifted department? You probably saw this coming. None other than Fedor Emelianenko. The height and weight difference is reduced to the point of irrelevancy in a matchup between Emelianenko and Lesnar. You think Fedor will have the problem Couture did getting Lesnar off his feet? Not a chance. Lesnar is amazingly quick for his size but Fedor appears to be even quicker. Fedor’s physical ability should draw out the best in Brock as, for the first time, he faces an opponent able to meet him face-to-face physically. Of course Fedor is a skilled fighter too and his combination of physicality and skill might be too much for Lesnar. But wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

Maybe in the long run it is best for Lesnar to have the Mir/Minataro fight ahead of him. Maybe matching up with those guys will force him to continue his rocket-like trajectory or improvement from fight to fight. Possibly they can give the young fella some learnin’. If so it might mitigate the advantage Fedor’s skill set provides over Lesnar’s and make a possible match up between Brock and Fedor that much more entertaining. Really though, until the UFC gets Fedor in front of their fighters their entire Heavyweight division is de-legitimized by his absence and the resulting abundance of “what if” questions. I think Fedor/Couture was an incredibly compelling reason to get Emelianenko in the UFC. I think the potential for pure MMA joy offered by a Lesnar/Fedor fight is even more so. Make it happen Dana, make it happen. We want to see your new ride turn a few laps running wide open.