Brock Lesnar‘s meteoric rise to MMA superstardom seems like something that happened overnight.
The former WWE superstar transitioned immediately from the entertainment business to professional fighting.
After an impressive victory in his MMA debut at Dynamite!! USA against Min-Soo Kim, Lesnar quickly found himself in a UFC octagon staring across from former heavyweight champion Frank Mir.
The UFC is the pinnacle of MMA. Some fighters amass over 20 fights before ever seeing the big stage. Lesnar didn’t only see the big stage in a short amount of time, but his bout with Mir also served as the co-main event to the interim heavyweight championship bout between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia.
Mir walked out the fortunate victor in that fight, but two bouts later, Lesnar found himself competing for a world title against UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.
How does a fighter ascend to the apex of his career in just four bouts?
After defeating Couture for the heavyweight title, Lesnar was successful in his first two defenses against Shane Carwin and Frank Mir, but he was thoroughly handled in October 2010 by undefeated American Kickboxing Academy standout Cain Velasquez.
A month away from his showdown with Junior Dos Santos, it’s interesting to ponder what Lesnar’s MMA career would’ve been like if things were approached differently.
Would we have seen a much better fighter?
Here’s how being fast-tracked to the title hurt Lesnar’s development.