Brock Lesnar is finally making his way to the Octagon at UFC 141 after finally getting surgery to fix his diverticulitis.
He hasn’t fought since his loss to Cain Velasquez in which he showed the same weakness he did in the Shane Carwin fight.
The weakness that when he gets punched in the face, he loses his game plan.
Now he is set to face Alistair Overeem, a former kickboxing world champion.
Needless to say, Lesnar is going to have to improve his weakness fast.
While it is true that no fighter can improve their “chin,” the fact is that the chin is not really what gets a fighter knocked out.
What really gets a fighter knocked out is a lack of using their legs, the angle of their chin, the angle their head gets hit and where their brain collides with their skull, and how many concussions they have had.
The first part of his problem is that when Lesnar starts eating punches, he tends to get stiff legged and backpedals.
Part of taking a punch is loosening the legs and allowing them to absorb the shock of any punches or strikes that are taken to the head. By doing this, a fighter can minimize the damage they take.
Lesnar also doesn’t tuck his chin which is another problem.
There are fans and pundits believe that the chin itself is what causes a fighter to be knocked out, but it is actually the angle of the chin and how it makes the brain swing into the skull.
Where a fighter gets hit will determine how it affects them.
When a fighter is hit their brain swings from their brain stem and smashes into the inside of their cranium.
Depending on where it hits the fighter takes certain damage.
Having the brain smash against the back damages the occipital lobe which impairs vision and makes it difficult for fighters to see.
The frontal lobe which is at the foremost part of the brain affects consciousness and voluntary motor control. If hit hard enough it makes a fighter lose consciousness.
So it isn’t so much the chin as it is a fighter not tucking their’s properly and letting one of those key areas get damaged.
The last problem Lesnar has is that he hasn’t trained in striking that much.
He is a former standout wrestler, but he hasn’t trained that much in standup. Being hit and absorbing the pain is a kind of conditioning. It takes a while for a fighter to train their body to withstand that pain. Lesnar obviously hasn’t done it.
And this is because he probably never has to.
He is a scary-looking individual. Most people wouldn’t think of punching him in the face and there is a good chance that most of his sparring partners don’t either.
Lesnar has probably never had to deal with people standing toe-to-toe with him and striking back and because of it and his lack of martial arts experience because no one has had the guts to do it.
Now he is going to face someone much like Cain Velasquez. A man who doesn’t have any fear of trading blows with him.
Except this time his opponent is going to be just as large as he is. In which case Lesnar might want to start getting his boxing sharp for his fight so he can stand up with Overeem.
Or else he might end up flat on his back.
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