Let's cut the bullshit huh folks? Really? I've spent the last couple of days reading nothing but posts, blogs, and articles about how Brock Lesnar needs to be considered one of the "greats" of the UFC Heavyweight division. Let's seriously cut the crap folks.
Fact: Lesnar brought a seriously insane wrestling pedigree to the UFC organzation but was unable to evolve his striking and/or grappling pedigree to the levels needed to sustain himself as a top contender in the UFC.
Look, it's painfully obvious that Brock's best bet to beat anyone was to take them down and ground and pound them into the mat. I even gave Brock this benefit of the doubt to fight Overeem.
We all know that Overeem had never fought someone with the wrestling pedigree that Brock had, and had Brock pressed the takedown angles even after Overeem had stuffed the first one, I think Brock could have been able to still take Overeem down.....
However, Brock DIDN'T keep trying to take Overeem down, he simply gave up after Overeem stuffed the first one. Why? I can only conclude that the real reason Brock didn't continually try to keep taking Overeem down is because Brock isn't a "real MMA fighter" in his heart.
A real MMA fighter would have realized that his best bet against Overeem was to keep to the wrestling and to keep trying to take him down.... over and over and over again until he finally did so and then start the ground and pound.
It's easy for me to say this because I'm on the outside looking in, I don't have to fight to make a living and I'm not Brock Lesnar.... I'm just saying that if I was... and I had to fight Alistair Overeem, my goal is to try and take him down, over... and over.... and over.
Brock however, didn't try after the first attempt, and once he felt the power of Overeem's knees and kicks to the body, I think Brock wasn't sure what to do.
Now, I don't want to bash Brock too much. One of the things I really have to give Brock credit for, is that he seemed to be improving EVERY time I saw him in the octagon. Though he wasn't a striker, he had serious power in his punches. Though he wasn't a "black belt in jiu-jitsu", he was able to submit Carwin with an arm triangle.
There are a number of reasons for why Brock probably shouldn't have retired from the UFC, but I'm glad he did. His age, along with his inability to take a solid shot from people who had real punching power, just says to me that Brock wasn't long for this sport.... and with only 8 professional fights on his record at his age, I don't think many people were expecting Brock to be the biggest name in the UFC for long.
Let's put Brock where he really should be. Was he truly the "Baddest man on the planet"? Not really. Should Brock be included into the UFC hall of fame? If you want to add a category for PPV buys, maybe.... but if you want to take Brock for his fighting prowess? I'd say no. A 5-3 record where he can't hang with the top contenders of the division? There's simply no reason to include him as one of the best HW's in the UFC.
Also, I've been reading a lot of fan criticism about Alistair Overeem's performance against Brock. Some people saying that it's not fair that Overeem knew of Brock's Divirticulitis and resorted to knee'ing and kicking Brock in the mid-section to exploit that fact.
I'm sorry, but it you were getting ready to fight someone, and they came out publicly to say they had some sort of illness or injury beforehand.... Wouldn't you, as a fighter, try to exploit that weakness to get that win?!
Also, I'm not convinced that was Alistair's strategy ANYWAY.... Overeem wanted to punish and strike with Lesnar as much as possible... that's no secret. So when he got the chance, he struck Lesnar where he could. He got the clinch, and threw a ton of knees and kicks. What do you expect?
I don't know... sometimes when I read the responses of other MMA fans, I have to wonder really how old they are, because it seems to me that their opinions are completely one-dimensional and devoid of any true thought process. It's like they take the simplest reason and use it as the end-all-be-all for something.
--Andy
