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BROCK LESNAR
He’s conquered wrestling; can he do the same in MMA?

By MMAMemories.com

Brock Lesnar’s athletic background dictates that he doesn’t think there’s anything he can’t do. A former pro wrestling star, he’s now cast his lot in MMA, and has the opportunity to make a big impact on Saturday when he faces off against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.

Lesnar’s journey began in high school wrestling. And after an undefeated senior season, he went on to junior college and then to the University of Minnesota where he was a two-time All-American, winning the national title in 2000. Almost right out of college, Lesnar signed to wrestle professionally with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and served an apprenticeship for about a year and a half before moving to the “A” grade, where he was handled by Paul Heyman (formerly known as “Paul E. Dangerously”), who named him “The Next Big Thing.”

That he was. Lesnar, with his amateur credentials and “legitimacy,” was ticketed for big things by Vince McMahon. He fulfilled that promise, making a big name for himself in the “Raw” brand of the WWF (which subsequently became the WWE), won the “King of the Ring” tournament, then went over to SmackDown, where he defeated Hulk Hogan in what was an eye-opening victory that set him up for a world title shot.

Lesnar posted a momentous win over The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) at WWE’s “SummerSlam” in 2002 to capture the WWE’s undisputed heavyweight title. He later lost that belt to The Big Show at the “Survivor Series,” as Heyman turned on him. and not long afterward, began a feud with Kurt Angle that became the stuff of WWE legend. Lesnar won his WWE title back against Angle, a former Olympic wrestler, in Wrestlemania XIX, though he suffered a concussion in the process. And he later avenged his loss to The Big Show in a title defense. In another titanic showdown, he slammed The Big Show to the canvas with his signature “Superplex,” at which point the ring collapsed. Lesnar lost his title by submission to Angle in another WWE SummerSlam, then won it back

Lesnar was also the author of the “Brock Lock,” which made the late Chris Benoit submit in a thrilling moment from SmackDown. At Wrestlemania XX, he was beaten by former Atlanta Falcon defensive lineman Bill Goldberg, then endeavored to do what Goldberg used to do, which is play in the National Football League. This was apparently a lifelong dream for Lesnar, so he left behind some unhappy people in the WWE and got a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings.

Things did not pan out. Lesnar did get into exhibition games, but was cut by the Vikings during camp. He could have continued to pursue a pro football dream, but he passed on the idea of going to NFL Europe for developmental purposes.

There was then the problem of breaking free from his WWE contract, which had a non-compete clause that effectively prevented Lesnar from working in New Japan Wrestling. After some back-and-forth, Lesnar took the WWE to court, and eventually reached a settlement with the organization that allowed him to go into any athletic endeavor he wanted from that point forward. Lesnar went on to win the IWGP heavyweight title in Japan, a rare feat for an American. Even though he was later stripped of that crown when he had visa difficulties, Lesnar found a way to defend the IWGP belt (which is also known as the NWA Japan championship) against his old nemesis, Kurt Angle in mid-2007. Angle won the match, but Lesnar had already found another way to make a living. He had gotten himself involved in mixed martial arts.

In fact, by the time of that last Angle match, Lesnar had made his MMA debut, fighting for the K-1 organization (based in Japan) four weeks before in the Los Angeles Coliseum. His opponent was supposed to be Choin Hong-man, the 7′2″ Korean kick-boxer, but Choi pulled out and Lesnar instead fought Min Soo Kim, who he defeated on strikes in a minute and nine seconds. .

Lesnar headed over to the UFC. He was in a hurry to fight someone with a “name” and made an agreement with UFC officials to fight Frank Mir, the former heavyweight champion and veteran of 13 mixed martial arts matches. Mir sees this as an opportunity to climb back into the championship picture. For Lesnar, it may just be a chance to cement his status as a global superstar and carry it, along with his legions of fans, over to a whole new “arena.”