Brock Lesnar‘s TKO loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 Friday night, and shocking retirement from MMA, was a win for fans of the sport worldwide.
Lesnar was the goat in yet another prime-time dud that ended before fans were even in their seats, and now his career is set in stone.
For as decorated as Lesnar was in his short four-year MMA career, his style was designed to bore, and his attitude to incite.
Nothing about Lesnar made fans want to root for him.
Not when he flipped the bird to the crowd following his revenge beating of Frank Mir, and certainly not when he looked as helpless and out of place as he did in his three UFC losses, all ending in the first round.
Lesnar failed to produce a non-scripted personality that fans could identify with, or root for. He came across as a jerk to a lot of fans, and still does.
As well as he transitioned from the WWE to the UFC, Lesnar was never cut out to be a real entertainer in a sport as tough and rugged as MMA.
His style of surviving opponents’ strikes just long enough until he could get them to the mat was painful on the eyes and hardly the marking of a true heavyweight champion.
Lesnar seemed almost afraid to get hit; not that anyone’s instinct is to take a punch or kick from another man, but for a fighter there has to be some disregard for injury.
It would be absurd to call Lesnar soft, but he was—without a doubt—one of the most flawed champions in UFC history.
He wasn’t a striker, but maybe if he was his personality wouldn’t have mattered. Fans of fighting want to see just that, fighting, and Lesnar didn’t deliver as often as he should have.
His bouts turned out like Denver Broncos games with Tim Tebow under center, but with way less excitement. He won and you didn’t always know how.
Lesnar’s career ended far sooner than he would have hoped. But the simple fact that UFC fans will no longer be subjected to his hopeless style of fighting is a win, and an exciting one at that.
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