Morning Report: Randy Couture Endorses Brock Lesnar’s UFC Hall of Fame Credentials

In midst of yesterday’s slow news cycle, a question was posed to Randy Couture and Kenny Florian on UFC Tonight. Should Brock Lesnar, perhaps the most unique and divisive figure in mixed martial arts history, be inducted into the …

LAS VEGAS - JULY 03:  Brock Lesnar reacts after his second round submission victory against Shane Carwin to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship Unification bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 3 2010 in Las Vegas Nevada.  (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

In midst of yesterday’s slow news cycle, a question was posed to Randy Couture and Kenny Florian on UFC Tonight. Should Brock Lesnar, perhaps the most unique and divisive figure in mixed martial arts history, be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame? It’s a question we’ll all inevitably be asked, and one that the community can ever seem to agree on, yet Couture didn’t even hesitate.

“He definitely should be,” Couture declared. “Anybody who’s gone in there and won the title, whether it’s been four fights, or six fights or whatever. He still made a huge impact in our sport. … We saw that in the pay-per-view numbers that he put up every time he fought. I think it’s justified.”

Couture, of course, is a Hall of Famer himself, and carries a loss to Lesnar on his résumé, so his answer may be a little biased. But then Florian, a well-respected fighter in his own right, jumped to chime in.

“Yeah, definitely,” K-Flo agreed. “Former champ. Was in the UFC for a short amount of time, but no one probably will ever, ever have that kind of impact in that short amount of time.”

Two different answers, the exact same argument. Given the circumstances, it’s probably Lesnar’s best argument. But where should we draw the line between measurable statistics and historical significance? The answer here is kind of important, because as the new generation overtakes the old, we’re going to be asking this same question to a flood of aging fighters.

So let’s figure this out. Here’s the facts.

Brock Lesnar:

Career record: 5-3
UFC Heavyweight Champion (Defeated Couture)
Title defenses: 2 (Frank Mir and Shane Carwin)
Submission of the Night (x1)
UFC wins: 4 (Heath Herring, Couture, Mir, Carwin consecutively)
UFC losses: 3 (Mir, Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem)
Headlined 4 of the 6 all-time highest selling UFC pay-per-views (including top 2)
2000 NCAA Division I wrestling champion

The UFC Hall of Fame currently lists eight fighters — Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes. You lived the Lesnar era. Does Brock Lesnar deserve to join that list?

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5 MUST-READ STORIES

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Anderson Silva calls Vitor Belfort a coward. UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva dismissively said of Vitor Belfort, “I know his weakness… he’s a coward,” while coaching Wanderlei Silva on a recent episode of TUF Brazil.

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MEDIA STEW

Seriously guys, if NickTheFace isn’t secretly working for the UFC right now, it’s an absolute crime.

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We have no idea why Scott Jorgensen is beating the living crap out of these Brazilian guys, but between the groin shot, the “300” kick, and pummeling a fat kid’s shirtless belly, do we really need a reason? (HT: MiddleEasy)

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What first started as a .gif making light of Jon Jones’ recent DWI, has now been pushed to a whole new level with the wondrous addition of sound. (HT: Reddit)

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Ridiculousness may just be a clone of Tosh.0, which is really just a modern-day clone of America’s Funniest Home Videos, but neither of those shows had Rampage Jackson on for a whole episode. So that’s got to count for something.

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BRING ON THE OPEN WEIGHT GRAND PRIX

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DID NOT EXPECT THAT

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THE LIFE OF A COWBOY

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Tuesday, May 22, 2012):

– UFC on FOX 4: Mick Swick (14-4) vs. DaMarques Johnson (16-10).

– UFC on FOX 4: Josh Grispi (14-3) vs. Pablo Garza (11-3)

– UFC on FOX 4: Nam Phan (17-10) vs. Cole Miller (18-6)

UFC 149: Claude Patrick (14-2) vs. James Head (8-2)

UFC 150: Jared Hamman (13-4) vs. Michael Kuiper (11-1)

– UFC on FUEL 4: Paul Taylor (11-6-1) out, Rafael dos Anjos (16-6) in against Anthony Njokuani (15-6), according to Fighters Only

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FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today’s Fanpost of the Day sees Our Bovine Public take a stab at one of the UFC’s oldest rumors: Debunking the myth: Matching winners vs losers

Okay so I’ve finally gotten round to making this fan post about something that has been bothering me for a while.

After just about every fight event, we as fans begin to play fantasy match maker. We put on our most serious Joe Silva face and predict who everyone should fight next. Whether its who is next for a title shot, who is left for Dan Hardy to fight (that he might actually have a chance against) or which champ Akiyama should face after losing his fifth fight in a row, matching up guys against other guys is fun.

One thing I’ve noticed however, and I’m sure you have too is that when we do this there is always someone ready to tell you that Joe Silva doesn’t match people who have won their last fight with somone who has lost their last. Since I’m officially finished for the summer I thought I would take it upon myself to do the reasearch and see just how many times Silva has matched up a winner and a loser. I was going to do it for a whole year but got bored and my point got proved quickly so I decided to do the events from Janurary (142) and go to the furthest event with announed bouts (150). This is 21 events and 207 fights.86 of these fights are announced but haven’t happened yet. There was one case were a fighter or both fighters were coming off a draw (McCall vs Johnson) and 2 cases of a fighter or both fighters coming off a no contest (Peralta/Semerzer and someone else I forget)

The results of my research are after the jump.

Found something perfect for the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s post.