What-Took-You-So-Long Alert: Lesnar Finally Gets Culturally Insensitive on Velasquez

("UFC Countdown." VidProps: Megavideo.com)
At long last, here is the Brock Lesnar we all know and love/loathe. After weeks of playing it almost unimaginably cool about the fact he’s about to defend his UFC heavyweight title against a 2…

("UFC Countdown." VidProps: Megavideo.com)

At long last, here is the Brock Lesnar we all know and love/loathe. After weeks of playing it almost unimaginably cool about the fact he’s about to defend his UFC heavyweight title against a 240-pound Mexican(-American), Lesnar finally let the thin veil of cultural sensitivity fall away during last night’s “UFC Countdown” show. It takes approximately one minute, 13 seconds into the above vid for Lesnar to publicly debut the semi-racist jokes about Cain Velasquez that he’s no doubt been trying out for weeks behind closed doors at the DeathClutch Gym. The results are actually kind of comforting. At least now we have confirmation that this dude with the beard really is Brock Lesnar, and not just some politically correct imposter.

"Listen,” quips Lesnar here. “When I get done whooping your ass, I’m gonna go drink a Corona and eat a burrito just for your Hispanic heritage. How about that?"

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Brock Lesnar: Cain Velasquez Not the Guy to Take Title Away From Me

Filed under: UFC, NewsWhen Brock Lesnar steps into the cage on Saturday night for his UFC 121 title defense against Cain Velasquez, he has the chance to do something historic.

The UFC heavyweight championship is the belt with the longest lineage, fir…

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When Brock Lesnar steps into the cage on Saturday night for his UFC 121 title defense against Cain Velasquez, he has the chance to do something historic.

The UFC heavyweight championship is the belt with the longest lineage, first awarded in February 1997. But since then, no one has managed to defend it successfully more than twice. If Lesnar beats Velasquez, he would become the first to defend the crown three times.

According to Lesnar, bank on it.

Report: At Some Point Brock Lesnar Thought it Would be Smart to Learn the ‘Fundamentals of Punching’

(“What you don’t seem to understand, *Pat*, is that our reliance on Lockean liberalism is precisely what’s allowed America to live under this guise of exceptionality that leads us to deny our own history in the name of social order. L…


(“What you don’t seem to understand, *Pat*, is that our reliance on Lockean liberalism is precisely what’s allowed America to live under this guise of exceptionality that leads us to deny our own history in the name of social order. Look, go read some Louis Hartz and then we’ll talk.” PicProps: @DCBrockLesnar)

Those of you who’ve been keeping up with “UFC Primetime” have likely already noticed two things: 1) Visiting sparring partner Pat Barry is far and away the most engaging and interesting (read: smartest) personality inside Brock Lesnar’s DeathClutch gym. 2) Yeah, it’s a little weird for Barry to be training with Lesnar leading up to his UFC 121 clash with Cain Velasquez. Somehow I just don’t see those two guys having compatible personalities. Nonetheless, Barry’s status as an invited guest at DeathClutch is another clear indicator that The Dark Lord is making an effort to get his leather together in the striking department. That endeavor, according to a recent article in the Boston Herald, has also included a second straight training camp with noted boxing coach Peter Welch.

“I never learned just the basics in boxing,” Lesnar explains. “I wanted to go get a grassroots boxing coach to get my feet underneath me, to try to combine my wrestling positions and mold into a boxing stance, and just lower myself and learn to punch from my feet to my hands. And so he’s been a huge help — just being able to understand the fundamentals of punching.”

Also, this is yet another situation that underscores how totally awesome it is to be Brock Lesnar. Here’s a guy who was already UFC heavyweight champion by the time he thought to himself, “Hey, you know what? I should learn a little bit of this crazy boxing stuff that everybody else is doing.” Must be nice.

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Enigmatic Brock Lesnar Brings Drawing Power, New Lessons to Velasquez Fight

Filed under: UFCWhether it’s about his career or his personal life, everyone wants to know more about Brock Lesnar. The UFC heavyweight champion seemingly pops into our lives once or twice a year, causes a hail of media coverage, then disappears back t…

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Whether it’s about his career or his personal life, everyone wants to know more about Brock Lesnar. The UFC heavyweight champion seemingly pops into our lives once or twice a year, causes a hail of media coverage, then disappears back to the solitude of his Minnesota ranch.

While Lesnar has a reputation as gruff — he’s even described himself as “ornery” — he also has a way of slyly, almost innocently, revealing self-reflections that often go unnoticed. In the leadup to his last fight with Shane Carwin, he spoke of his vulnerabilities while going through the sickness that threatened his career. While that was more a physical challenge, Lesnar occasionally touches on the mind games that go along with being a pro athlete.

Yes, even the UFC heavyweight champion questions himself from time to time, as he noted when he spoke about what he learned from the Carwin fight that could help him in his upcoming UFC 121 title defense against Cain Velasquez.

Brock Lesnar Ain’t Got Time for Your Baiting Political Questions, MMA Media

(He might go home and try to get on top of his wife but he will not, we repeat not, get on top of your questions about immigration. PicProps: @DCBrockLesnar)
Since we’re already all so giddy to see these two behemoths get in the cage and crush sk…


(He might go home and try to get on top of his wife but he will not, we repeat not, get on top of your questions about immigration. PicProps: @DCBrockLesnar)

Since we’re already all so giddy to see these two behemoths get in the cage and crush skulls next weekend, it’s been pretty easy to overlook the fact that neither Brock Lesnar nor Cain Velasquez has done a great job selling UFC 121. Truth is they don’t have to, since these titanic heavyweight matchups have a way of promoting themselves. Nonetheless, Velasquez has thus far proved too media savvy and Lesnar too mind-numbingly obstinate to say or do anything interesting leading up to their clash in Anaheim.

Even with two-thirds of “UFC Primetime” already in the books, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a storyline for this bout aside from the run-of-the-mil “unstoppable force vs. immovable object” trope that’s worked so well for promoters for decades. For that reason, we’d like to offer up an earnest golf clap to whichever reporter tried to actually get the fighters to say something interesting during yesterday’s conference call by asking both Lesnar and Velasquez about Arizona’s recent controversial illegal immigration enforcement laws. Brilliant move that might’ve yielded solid gold results. Unfortunately, neither guy really took the bait. 

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Video: UFC Primetime – Lesnar vs. Velasquez Episode 2

(Video courtesy YouTube/SpikeTV/UFC) If you missed last night’s episode of UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez, look no further, we got you covered, homie.
The recurring theme coming out of Velasquez’s camp is that Cain is going to use his speed and…

(Video courtesy YouTube/SpikeTV/UFC)

If you missed last night’s episode of UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez, look no further, we got you covered, homie.

The recurring theme coming out of Velasquez’s camp is that Cain is going to use his speed and endurance advantage to take Brock into the later rounds where he is planning on putting on a boxing clinic.  Dave Camarillo went so far as to say that Velasquez in planning on being the spry matador who will make Lesnar the bull look like a lumbering idiot…or something to that effect.

Lesnar’s coaches are pissed at the assertion that their fighter is a slow, out of shape fighter, and they take every opportunity to try to dispel the assumption, even sticking temporary training partner, Pat Barry in front of the camera to talk about Brock’s cheetah-like reflexes and ability to out run a Mack truck with a full tank of diesel.

I was a bit taken aback by Erik Paulson’s claim that Brock hits harder than anyone he’s ever trained, especially since we’ve really only seen him throw those awkward turbo hammer fists and no power punches. Maybe we’re in for a surprise on October 23, or maybe Paulson is just trying to scare Cain from standing with Brock using the old bait and switch technique.

They really seem to be playing up Cain’s ethnicity, though I’ve noticed Spike has stopped running the commercial with the, "Velasquez is hoping to become the first Mexican UFC heavyweight champion" since he was born in the U.S. and Ricco Rodriguez isn’t impressed. Not only did he explain the significance of his controversial, "Brown Pride" tattoo for the tenth time in the past few years, he also visited with a group of young Latino men to tell them they should embrace their heritage and that they can do anything they put their minds to if they persevere and work hard.

Unless they’re Tito Ortiz and their goals are to become a commentator.

It’s interesting that Brock wouldn’t let the show film his house, his wife or his kids. He’s always been a pretty private guy and I can’t say I blame him considering how obsessive some adult pro-wrestling fans are.

Part two is after the jump.

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