[WWW] Lance Storm 8.11.08 Brock Lesnar
Evad Seltzer
Brock Lesnar
August 11, 2008
After watching UFC 87 this past weekend I thought should talk a little
about Brock Lesnar this week. Brock Lesnar is the biggest MMA PPV draw
for me right now. I’ve only paid for 2 MMA PPVs in my life and both
featured Brock Lesnar. The obvious appeal is that I know the guy and
used to work with him in WWE but that’s not the whole picture. As I’ve
mentioned several times before I’m fairly new to the MMA game, and far
from an expert, and because of this I enjoy watching fighters that are
new to the game.
When I watch a guy like Brock Lesnar I’ve seen everything he’s done
and know all there is to know about him. I’ve seen every fight Brock
has had, so I understand him and want to see how he progresses. Heath
Herring on the other hand, I’ve heard about and have seen a couple of
his fights but when you look at his career of 42 fights I’ve barely
scratched the surface of it and thus am not really qualified to form
much of an opinion of him as a fighter. For the price of 2 or at the
most 3 PPV events per year I will be able to see Brock Lesnar’s entire
career, which I intend to do.
With Saturday’s big win Brock’s MMA career record goes to 2-1, which
in a strange coincidence is my record over Brock Lesnar in pro-
wrestling. I got to wrestle Brock on three WWE house shows when he was
first brought up from developmental. These three matches may have been
Brock’s first WWE matches and I think they had a lot in common with
the fights in his MMA career.
After the first match I had with Brock it was obvious that he was a
tremendous athlete but he was very green and made several rookie
mistakes. He was easy to work with and had talent but had a few holes
in his game that he needed to plug. After that first match I talked
with Brock, coaching him and pointing out things he needed to change
and improve on and I could tell Brock was really paying attention and
wanted to learn. The next night we had our second match and everything
single point I made the previous night was improved upon. That night I
pointed out a few other aspects and the next night he again improved
unbelievably.
Brock was a prodigy in pro-wrestling, and after watching his match
with Heath Herring, this past Saturday, I suspect he is in MMA as
well. This fight was so important to Brock’s career and in my opinion
Brock did exactly what he needed to do. I will grant you finishing the
fight on his own without letting it go to the judges would have been
better but I don’t know how anyone could see UFC 87 as anything but a
complete positive for Brock Lesnar.
Heath Herring was an accomplished fighter with 42 professional fights
and was a legit threat to Brock Lesnar, and in his 3rd MMA fight Brock
Lesnar completely dominated him. Brock dropped Herring with his first
punch and hit him so hard it knocked him head over heels backwards.
Brock took Herring down virtually at will and at no point in the fight
was Brock Lesnar not in control let alone in trouble of losing. Heath
Herring looked to be in great shape and had 20 times the experience of
Brock Lesnar and did not manage to mount any offense what so ever.
That’s frightening!
In this fight Brock showed far more patient and ability to control his
opponent than in his first fight and in going the distance he showed
he has good enough conditioning to go the distance without running out
of gas. This is likely a good thing because until Brock learns some
submissions there is a good chance he will go the distance while
controlling and dominating opponents, assuming his opponent can
survive the punches and knees Brock throws from the ground; OUCH! I
would imagine Heath herring is still pretty damn sore from the beating
he took Saturday night.
Brock Lesnar is definitely for real, and I would imagine this is just
the tip of the iceberg of what he can achieve. I still don’t think
anyone realizes how explosively fast this guy is and with his learning
curve he is going to be absolutely deadly in the years to come. It’s a
good thing Pro-Wrestling is a work because if it wasn’t my 2-1 record
against Brock would be a big 0-3.
Congratulations Brock, and continued success. It was a pleasure to
know and work with you in WWE, and I look forward to following your
UFC career. You are very much living up to the character and promos we
used to joke with you about in WWE. You are the white Incredible Hulk:
“BROCK SMASH!!!!!!!!”
Lance Storm