(Photos by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
UFC 121
LESNAR-VELASQUEZ
By Jake Daniels
Brock Lesnar IS human after all.
All this time I’d figured he was a real-life version of “The Thing” from the fantastic four: made of stone, no neck, talks a lot of junk, backs it up with his fists, and no doubt feels “I’m the idol o’ millions!” I figured it would take some years for someone to bring this guy down. Even Stan Lee would’ve been planning the next dozen or so issues on Lesnar/The Thing bulldozing anything in his way.
There’s no doubt Lesnar was thinking very Thing-like as Cain Velasquez hammered fist after fist into his face Saturday night. “Wotta revoltin’ development ‘dis is”, Ben Grimm used to say when he’d be in trouble with a villain.
Thing is (pardon the pun), Velasquez is no villain – he BEAT the villain. Ask any MMA/UFC fan what they think of Lesnar, and the lines are clearly drawn: you love watching him do that voodoo that he do, or you can’t stand the big muscle head. Despite never having been a member of the WWF/WWE wrestling fraternity, I liked seeing the former NCAA division one wrestling champ grow in the Octagon. He mixes true athleticism with massive size, a mean attitude, and the marketing genius learned in pro wrestling.
The trouble really started for Lesnar in his submission win over Shane Carwin. The millions watching actually witnessed the heavyweight champ get stunned by punches, although his bulging biceps kept a frantically-punching-himself-out Carwin from doing much damage before the end of round one. Still, if you’re Velasquez, you saw an in – and man did he take advantage at UFC 121 to claim the belt from Lesnar. Perhaps Brock himself was fooled by his own “It’s clobberin’ time” attitude, and didn’t give the heavy hands of Velasquez the respect they deserve.
Hopefully, we’ll see Lesnar dig deep, learn some more, and come back for another shot at that shiny golden belt. If he’s really anything like Ben Grimm, he’s already thinking “Maybe I’m too ugly and stupid to give up!” just like The Thing in his fight with the Champion of the Universe.
In the meantime, sombreros off to the new Heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez. This Mexican-American may have just locked up a huuuuge new viewing audience as the UFC’s first Mexican title holder. It’s something Dana White will be glad to bank on, considering the millions his former champion brought in just by being his cartoony self.
– Jake Daniels is a former sports radio talk show host and MMA enthusiast.
Jake has offered to help us out at The MMA News, so please let us know if you liked his work. Maybe we can convince him to write a few more articles in the future!