In Defense of Brock Lesnar's Contribution to MMA

If you are reading this post chances are you are a wrestling fan. That's great, so am I, I love it. I also happen to be a rather passionate MMA fan. I have been watching wrestling since I was four years old and MMA since the early 90s when the only way you could see it is if you rented the a VHS copy from your local video store. Yeah, believe it or not, MMA has been around longer than 2005. It is possible to be passionate about both. However, ever since the rise of MMA in pop culture "hardcore"  MMA loyalist have become vigilant in their disdain for wrestling. Without fail, when I am among MMA loyalists, fighters, and promoters and they find out I am a wrestling fan someone will say, "YOU LAHK THAT FAKE SHIT?!", like I was totally unaware that wrestling is indeed scripted(Fake? They may try to not legitimately hurt each other, but the numerous surgeries and injuries your average wrestler have to endure are indeed real).

Now the reason I write this post is because of the guy in the above picture, Mr. Jose Rodriguez of the Toronto Sun. Just look at him. He actually thinks that soul patch doesn't resemble an upside down Hitler mustache. He's obviously a bright guy. Now when someone as obviously smart as Mr. Rodriguez says the following you know he is speaking with intelligence and is above reproach...but that isn't going stop someone like myself, who can't possibly be as smart as Mr. Rodriguez, from making a fool out of myself by responding to the things in his article that I took issue with FJM style.

… And in Entertainment news this week, Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE.


In his first role in the live-action theatre drama, he shoots a double and puts John Cena on his back before ground-and-pounding him with elbows and hammer fists to earn a stoppage win.


No. Scratch that.


Lesnar comes in with thunderous leg kicks — alternating between inside and outside — before getting hold of Cena’s head and forcing him to tap to a standing guillotine choke.


No. Scratch that too.

Oh, I'm sorry, were you looking for MMA? Is your DVR broken? Your program guide doesn't work? This is professional wrestling. Where Brock got his start and was turned into a superstar and then went to the sport you consider yourself an expert in and propelled it to it's greatest popularity based solely off the fact that he was in the WWE. Oh yeah, he also won the heavyweight title in his short stint in MMA.

Funny, I don’t remember many F-5s during his MMA days. I guess it’s a little different when the other guy doesn’t play along.

Do you remember him beating the shit out of Heath Herring, Frank Mir, Randy Couture, and Shane Carwin? I mean, that is a pretty impressive list of defeats in such a short time. Sure, Couture was past his prime, but don't forget that he is the guy that Brock beat for the UFC heavyweight title. Yes, he got beat by Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem(Who just got popped for failing a drug test because of elevated testosterone.), but don't forget he had a year lay off due to diverticulitis and wasn't nearly the same explosive Brock after he came back.

I, for one, can’t think of a better home for the loud-mouthed, brash and often times ignorant Lesnar. He did little to build the credibility of the sport and, if anything, cheapened it.

 You claim to be a "MMA fan before it was fashionable"(nice picture of Lesnar in the header by the way..kinda cheapens it.) but do you remember such no nonsense competitors such as Tito Ortiz, Josh Koschek, Chael Sonnen, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Frank Mir, Nate and Nick Diaz, and the list can go on and on. This may come as a surprise to you, but Brock and all those aforementioned fighters are/were the biggest MMA draws in the business because they used their mouths to put butts in the seats and sell PPVs. Sure, they were also dominant at one point, or still are, because they were skilled, but it is their loud-mouthed brashness that made people want to see them dominate or get dominated. And one could argue that they were taking their cues from the fake sport of professional wrestling.

As far as building, lending credibility, or cheapening the sport goes, you could say that Brock helped push the sport just as far as the Forrest Griffin/Stephan Bonnar fight did in 2005 by having many WWE fans turn their attention to MMA just to see how Brock would do in unscripted competition. And apparently you forget that Brock was a NCAA heavyweight champion wrestler before he decided to try his hand at professional wrestling. I find it difficult to believe that while Brock cheapened MMA when he never once failed a drug test while ACTIVE competitors such as Alistair Overeem and Sonnen have both been popped for failing drug tests and Sonnen is getting ready to compete for the middleweight title.

There is something seriously wrong when The Undertaker is one of the featured stars in the stands during a UFC pay-per-view.
Just doesn’t seem right.

Why? Is the Undertaker a bad person? Is he not allowed to go to MMA event because he is a wrestler? How is the Undertaker any different from Kevin James, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shaquille O'neal, The Rock(OH WAIT! HE WRESTLES TOO!*), or any other celebrity that can be spotted easily at UFC events?

Brock, I will NOT miss you though I wish you nothing but success in your return to an acting career.

You know who WILL miss Brock? Dana White. Because it was guaranteed that he was going to have a successful PPV when Brock fought. I'm also pretty sure that other fighters will miss him because they knew that if they were fighting on the same card as Brock they were going to be fighting in front of more people than if he wasn't there.

This article was written with an agenda of malice and with stupidity. For some reason Mr. Rodriguez has this ignorant idea that being an MMA fan or WWE fan is mutually exclusive. That isn't the case at all. Next time he writes anything about wrestling he should just write, "YOU LAHK THAT FAKE SHIT!", so we know that his what he is writing is uneducated and ignorant.