|
|
  - LESNAR TALKS TITLE, CALLS OUT FRANK MIR
Monday, November 17, 2008 - by Tom Hamlin
Looking at Brock Lesnar’s performance against Randy Couture on Saturday, it’s hard to believe many reporters called him the next Kimbo Slice.
With a record of 2-1 in professional mixed martial arts competition, some critics made the most of very little ammunition in Lesnar’s video library.
No matter how hard Dana White tried, he couldn’t shake the Slice comparisons.
“If I had hair, I’d pull it out,” the UFC president quipped.
But any parallels between the titanic champion and his backyard-bred counterpart were erased at UFC 91. Lesnar’s size and strength bridged the gap in experience between he and Couture, setting the stage for a unique changing of the guard in the UFC’s inconsistent heavyweight division. Lesnar is the greenest—and possibly the most promising—champion in its history.
In their eight minutes together, Couture felt every single pound of the forty-five between them. There was no room for him to be elusive.
“He’s a big sumbitch, that’s all there is to it,” Couture said after the fight.
Lesnar’s isolation from the outside world turned out to be the best thing for taking down a legend.
“The only thing that mattered was that I believed in myself,” Lesnar said of the pre-fight skepticism. “You guys out there do your job. There’s always going to be that, but I’ve been an athlete since I was five years old. I don’t even have the internet. I don’t read the newspapers. I quit doing that a long time ago. I’m just happy I came and succeeded and all my hard work paid off.”
Despite a quiet confidence in press junkets leading up to the fight, Lesnar was quite the opposite when he walked to the cage.
“Honest to god, up until when they said ‘let’s go,’ I was pretty nervous,” he admitted. “I didn’t really know what to expect. That first round for me was kind of a feel-out round, and to feel exactly what this guy’s capable of doing.”
Like many fighters early in their careers, Lesnar woke up in his first exchange with “The Natural.” When Couture cut him with a punch in the second round, he got the motivation he needed to finish the fight.
“I wanted to get first blood on Randy; something in my head said, ‘alright, we’ve got to pick this up,’” Lesnar said.
Lesnar had taken steps towards finishing Couture early in the second frame, wobbling the champ with a right elbow as the two stood in front of each other. Couture drove for a takedown, but could not get his oversized opponent to the mat. The fight would be won, or lost, on the feet.
“After getting into a few exchanges with him I felt like I was connecting with him, and he connected with me but, quite frankly, I just felt like I was hitting harder and I was going to connect before he did,” Lesnar said.
When Lesnar’s right hand glanced off Couture’s temple, signaling the beginning of the end, he didn’t even feel it.
“I thought Randy was going to do a Superman on me and stand up,” he said. “I was a bit shocked. I don’t even know where it hit. I don’t care where it hit. He was on the ground and I was going to capitalize on it.”
With a shiny new belt on his waist—no doubt pinned to the last hole—the naysayers don’t bother him. He doesn’t know who Kimbo Slice is anyways.
“At the end, when the time is up and your hand is raised, that’s what matters,” he said.
The second bracket of the UFC’s unofficial heavyweight tournament commences on Dec. 27. Frank Mir will face off with interim heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to determine Lesnar’s next opponent. Lesnar said in no uncertain terms who he preferred to face.
“I need a rematch with Frank Mir,” he said.
BACK TO THE NEWS
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Related Articles :
- - HAZELETT HAPPY WITH WIN, STILL WANTS TO IMPROVE (Monday, November 17, 2008)
Pulling off another victory with a great finish, Dustin Hazelett moved his career UFC record to 5-2 while earning another bonus for the slickest submission of the night...
- - NETWORK TV SITS ON THE UFC SIDELINES... FOR NOW (Sunday, November 16, 2008)
Dana White has made it very clear in the past that he is not depending on a network television deal to further the promotion's popularity...
- - TIME'S NOT UP, COUTURE CONTEMPLATES NEXT MOVE (Sunday, November 16, 2008)
Father Time isn't cashing in his chips on Randy Couture yet. The former champ told MMAWeekly.com that he'll assess his situation, but don't count him out just yet...
- - UFC 91 DOES WELL IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES (Sunday, November 16, 2008)
Despite turbulent times in the U.S. economy, UFC 91 had to be considered a success at the gate with 14,272 fans in attendance for a $4.8 million gate...
- - UFC 91 BONUSES YIELD $60,000 EACH (Sunday, November 16, 2008)
Following a night that saw the UFC crown Brock Lesnar the new heavyweight champion, the promotion also handed down $60,000 bonuses to the top performers of the show including "Fight of the Night", " Submission of the Night" and "Knockout of the Night."
- - FLORIAN SUBMITS STEVENSON AND CALLS OUT BJ PENN (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
Kenny Florian, now the undisputed #1 contender in the lightweight division, submitted Joe Stevenson in the first round of their fight on Saturday night, while also making a call to B.J. Penn for his next battle...
- - UFC 91: QUICK FIGHTS MARK OPENERS (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
Gonzaga, Maia and Hazelett make quick work of their opponents at UFC 91.
- - RILEY AND GURGEL LIGHT UP UFC 91 UNDERCARD (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
Easily the fight of the night on the undercard, a returning Aaron Riley and a struggling Jorge Gurgel went toe-to-toe for the duration of their three-round bout...
- - UFC 91 LIVE RESULTS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
MMAWeekly.com is on location from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas bringing you live results and play-by-play of UFC 91...
- - COMPLETE UFC 91 EVENT COVERAGE (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
MMAWeekly.com has made it easy for you to get up to speed on UFC 91 by compiling our industry leading event coverage in one place, your one-stop-shop for UFC 91 information.
- - GONZAGA NOT UNDERESTIMATING UFC NEWCOMER (Saturday, November 15, 2008)
UFC heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga talks about his upcoming match-up against Josh Hendricks and his goal of getting back to the UFC heavyweight title...
- - HAZELETT NOT WAITING AROUND FOR MCCRORY (Friday, November 14, 2008)
Dustin Hazelett doesn't like to leave the fight in the judges' hands, and he's not going to wait around for Tamdan McCrory to bring to the fight to him so he can finish it on Saturday night at UFC 91...
- - UFC 91 COUTURE VS LESNAR WEIGH-IN PHOTOS (Friday, November 14, 2008)
UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar takes place Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. MMAWeekly was on location on Friday to capture this exclusive photo gallery of the fighters weighing in...
- - UFC 91 WEIGH-IN RESULTS (Thursday, November 14, 2007)
MMAWeekly.com was on location from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 91 weigh-ins where all fighters made weight.
- - COUTURE BRINGS IN BIG BOYS TO PREPARE FOR BROCK (Friday, November 14, 2008)
In order to prepare for the immense size of Brock Lesnar, UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture called on a tremendous cast of fighters to help him prepare...
- - WINNER OF FLORIAN VS. STEVENSON GETS TITLE SHOT (Friday, November 14, 2008)
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White stated at the UFC 91 pre-fight press conference that the winner of the lightweight match up between Kenny "Ken-Flo" Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson will get the next shot at the title...
- - FIGHT-BY-FIGHT: UFC 91 COUTURE VS LESNAR PREVIEW (Friday, November 14, 2008)
MMAWeekly.com's Ricardo Mendoza breaks down Saturday's UFC 91 fight card featuring the UFC heavyweight championship between current champ Randy Couture and challenger Brock Lesnar...
- - 49ERS PICK WINNER OF COUTURE VS. LESNAR (Friday, November 14, 2008)
San Francisco 49ers linebackers Patrick Willis and Jeff Ulbrick make their picks for the winner of UFC 91's heavyweight championship main event between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar...
- - WHITE EYES UFC 91 MEGAFIGHT LOOKING TO FUTURE (Thursday, November 13, 2008)
Dana White, handily deflecting questions about UFC 91 not selling out, is fixed on a sure pay-per-view hit with more to come...
- - UFC 91: FLORIAN READY TO PUT THE PAST BEHIND (Thursday, November 13, 2008)
Top UFC lightweight contender, Kenny Florian, spoke to MMAWeekly Radio recently about his decision to take the upcoming fight against Joe Stevenson and why his past fight against Sean Sherk will be no blueprint for his new opponent to follow...
- - JOE STEVENSON'S NOT THE UNDERDOG AT UFC 91 (Thursday, November 13, 2008)
Joe Stevenson and Kenny Florian's UFC 91 lightweight bout has a heavyweight load of implications in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's 155-pound division. Stevenson spoke with MMAWeekly.com about the match up, his training and the role of underdog giving him extra motivation...
- - ALVIN ROBINSON: 100-PERCENT FOR UFC 91 (Wednesday, November 12, 2008)
After a year plagued by injury, UFC lightweight Alvin Robinson is finally healthy and ready to fight at Saturday's UFC 91 event against Mark Bocek...
- - AMIR SADOLLAH OUT OF UFC 91; PRELIM UPGRADE (Tuesday, November 11, 2008)
Ultimate Fighter season seven winner Amir Sadollah has been removed from the UFC 91 fight card. He has a leg infection that has required him to withdraw...
- - UFC 91: BROCK LESNAR READY TO GO TO WORK (Tuesday, November 11, 2008)
“I got a lot of plowing to get done before I get to see the end of the field on this one.” Such are the words of Brock Lesnar, knowing the task before him when he faces Randy Couture at UFC 91...
- - RANDY COUTURE BREAKS DOWN BROCK LESNAR (Monday, November 10, 2008)
UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture recently spoke to MMAWeekly Radio about his upcoming title fight against Brock Lesnar, what the former WWE star brings into the fight, and how he plans on testing his opponent on Saturday night...
Copyright 2009 MMA Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of MMA Weekly content is expressly prohibited without expressed written consent of MMA Weekly. MMA Weekly will not be liable for any errors in content or any action taken in reliance thereof.
|
|
|
|
