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Charles Jay
THE OUTSIDER

NOW WHAT’S IN STORE FOR LESNAR?

I did not think Brock Lesnar was going to beat Frank Mir on Saturday night. And I think the forces behind the UFC were hoping he wouldn’t. It just would not have looked good for someone who is just coming out of a world that is athletic, yet based in fantasy (pro wrestling) to upend someone who was referred to by the UFC’s own announcers as “one of the greatest ever.” That may have, in the perception of many, reduced the value of the MMA competitor, at least as the UFC is trying to present him.

I haven’t really looked into how Mir became Lesnar’s opponent. I have read that Lesnar insisted that his first opponent in the UFC be someone who was a major name, where a victory would have a tremendous impact. But this whole thing looked like they were setting him up to fail.

Reasonable people could have easily come to the conclusion that he WOULD fail. I think the sport of mixed martial arts has progressed to the point where it is a discipline unto itself, albeit a hybrid. But it is something you specifically train for, ironically, by not getting too specific about anything (or, one can interpret, being specific about EVERYTHING). Regardless, it has matured enough that it is not something where you would normally walk in off the street and be a dominant figure. The sharper guys I talked to around MMA understood this. Dana White understood it. Frank Mir understood it. But I don’t think Brock Lesnar necessarily understood it.

And when I write that Lesnar was “set up to fail,” I’m not directing that in a disparaging way toward anyone in the UFC hierarchy. It was Lesnar who asked for the big-time opponent, and of all the big-time opponents they could have gotten, they were being the most generous by offering Mir, who frankly (to pardon the pun) hasn’t been on the championship scene for a while.

But they knew what was going to happen anyway. at this moment they’ve completed a “positioning” exercise. they have positioned Lesnar, who was at the top in another combat “sport” as someone who came into a more “difficult” arena and didn’t get anywhere.

Whether Lesnar ever gets anywhere remains to be seen. He has indicated that he is serious about sticking with MMA, although his refusal to go to NFL Europe on behalf of the Minnesota Vikings was a clear indication that he wasn’t altogether serious about developing himself into a player who could eventually make the NFL roster.

I, for one, see some possibilities in him. He was doing pretty well for himself against Mir, using strikes to my surprise, before he succumbed to the ankle lock in what was obviously a “rookie mistake.”

But he can be a factor if he wants to be. I’m not saying he can win a heavyweight title, but he does have strength, and he does have a certain wrestling background, so it’s just a matter of how much MMA he is willing to work toward incorporating into his repertoire.

One thing I’m relatively sure about is that he is not going to become anyone’s jobber. He is not going to be the opponent, the stepping stone, the trialhorse. He won’t allow the UFC to go that far with him, though they may want to.

So his MMA career may wind up being a short one after all.