http://www.mmamadness.com/insight.html?newsitem_id=218
Brock Lesnar's Long, Strange Trip to UFC 81
It is not unusual for MMA fans to see a fighter leave their old stomping grounds of the ring for the Octagon. That is a path taken by former PRIDE heavyweights such as Heath Herring, Fabricio Werdum, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. It is unusual, however, if that ring happens to feature the larger-than-life frames and personalities of professional wrestling.
Just a handful of MMA fighters have made their way through the grueling tours of theatre’s most masculine form. Ken Shamrock, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Josh Barnett are a few names that have recognition in real and staged fighting alike.
But what separates Brock Lesnar from the aforementioned is he is going straight to headliner after only one professional MMA fight, a determination heavily based on his professional wrestling reputation.
The UFC has accepted fighters based on single-discipline-merit before (see B.J. Penn’s debut). However, Lesnar’s phenomenal NCAA wrestling background is not what is catapulting him into the spotlight. It is his “Next Big Thing” status earned in Vince McMahon’s world.
The North Dakota-born Lesnar made Minnesota his home during college when he tore up the wrestling mats en route to a nearly undefeated record of 106-5. His impressive physique and athletic ability caught the attention of WWE’s head-honchos. As a college senior, Lesnar saw two career options: continue wrestling or continue “wrestling.”
A lucrative contract prompted Lesnar to give up the singlet and sift through persona options in the cartoon world of professional wrestling. The WWE sent Lesnar to Ohio Valley Wrestling, their feeder organization that cultivates talent—in the ring and on the microphone.
Two of professional wrestling’s biggest talents in and out of the ring are Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Defeating Flair and Hogan is a landmark accomplishment in professional wrestling because as time-tested names, they have creative control over their characters, including veto power, both to protect their characters and the business. Simply put, they are legends. Brock Lesnar beat them both. More importantly, he demolished them. His athleticism and charisma earned the blessings of these major players within a year—an unparalleled accomplishment that served as a testament to his future in sports entertainment.
A world title, main event status, and international recognition soon followed.
Five days a week, nearly 300 days a year for two years took the Midwesterner all around the world. It was after a South African tour that Lesnar decided his life as a professional wrestler was over.
Snuffing out his star in professional wrestling, Lesnar wanted to become a star in the NFL. Before leaving the WWE for the NFL, he had to fulfill an obligation at WrestleMania, professional wrestling’s Super Bowl.
Fans heard the grumblings of Lesnar’s move. They jeered him goodbye in a losing effort against another professional wrestler departing—EliteXC commentator Bill Goldberg. Vince McMahon and veterans alike felt Lesnar had irrevocably damaged the business by spitting on the road paved for him.
But for Brock Lesnar, it was not abandonment. It was about the pursuit of a dream. He was chasing his passion, not money, like he did when he began professional wrestling in 2000.
Unfortunately for Lesnar, everything he earned in four years did not matter on the gridiron. His charisma was void. His amateur wrestling background did not translate. The only traits that carried over were his athleticism and work ethic, which was not enough to earn him a spot on the Minnesota Vikings. His home team was the only team that demonstrated strong interest.
The life he wanted was in the NFL; the life he got was in Japan. After an uncontrolled demolition on the bridges to the WWE, Lesnar’s only outlet to be a star was in Japan. He was on top of the world again, but stuck in the world that grated on his physical state. All the while, his legal team attempted to fend off the WWE, which was claiming breach of contract.
The grind of travel—of being away from his wife and young daughter—was the reason Lesnar left professional wrestling in the first place. Yet he found himself across the Atlantic two years removed from his WrestleMania goodbye, six years since the surreal trip of pretending to hurt others while incurring real injuries began.
Lesnar began eying a stateside return. This time he returned as a mixed martial artist. Pat Miletich opened his doors in Iowa to the Minnesotan, but Lesnar eventually took up residence in Greg Nelson’s Minnesota camp en route to making his debut. Oddly enough, Lesnar returned to main event status under Japanese pro-wrestling-influenced organization K-1.
His free agent flag caught wind after a minute and nine seconds against Min Soo Kim. The UFC signed Lesnar and have pit him against Frank Mir.
In only his second MMA bout, Lesnar faces a former UFC heavyweight champion. He is not going to intimidate his way to victory, passing guard into full mount against an opponent content to hold. In fact, Mir is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stylist known for playing off his back and pulling off stunning submissions.
Both Lesnar and Mir are accustomed to the biggest spotlights. Lesnar saw them as a professional wrestler—Mir as a fighter. Lesnar walked away from them—Mir had them taken away in the form of a motorcycle accident. Now they find themselves under the spotlights again, looking to steal it away from each other.
A win signals the start of another, longer, stranger trip for Lesnar. A loss means the same.
But the world of mixed martial arts may look familiar to the former professional wrestler. Long days of hard work employing his immense athletic ability and charisma, just for a fifteen-minute payoff, under heavy lights. The difference is, there is no space to be coddled.
It was eight years ago Lesnar gave up real competition for predetermined competition. In mixed martial arts, unlike professional wrestling, no one is going to declare Lesnar the winner before it starts—he is back in the real world of combat sports.
And if he walks away, he will not be seeking a new challenge, he will be cowering away from a new one.
