A message to Brock Lesnar; Get out of the woods.
by Mike Williams on October 26, 2010

As the dust settles on Brock Lesnar's loss to Cain Velasquez, the 20/20 hindsight of Monday morning quarterbacks is coming from all directions. Let's add to that, except today is Tuesday.

On October 21, just two days before the fight at which he lost his belt, Lesnar was interviewed by ESPN's Jim Rome. During that interview, Rome asked for the champ's thoughts on some derogatory remarks that Chael Sonnen had made about him prior to his title fight against middleweight champion Andersen Silva. Rome read excerpts from Sonnen's comments and Lesnar's response was, "I don't know who he is."  Rome then showed a video clip of Sonnen trashing him and Lesnar asked, "is he a fighter? I don't know who he is. I'm serious."

Lesnar was the heavyweight champion of the top dog mma promotion in the world and one of the least-experienced fighters on the roster. He was a mere 5-1 before the Velasquez fight and supposedly doing everything in his power to improve his game and sharpen his skills to become a more complete mixed martial artist. By all accounts, Lesnar has always put in the work at the gym. Whether it's the right gym or not is an entirely separate debate but when you claim to be the baddest man on the planet and say you're willing to take on guys like Fedor Emelianenko who have been training in the sport for many years, isn't it wise to do all of the research you can possibly do? Wouldn't one think that part of the research required to improve the game of the baddest man on the planet would involve watching one of the biggest title fights of the year? Okay, so Sonnen still isn't exactly a superstar but Anderson Silva is. Anyone who was paying even a little bit of attention to what's happening in the sport would surely have seen that fight and a high percentage of those people would have been aware of the pre-fight hype and controversy that was created by Sonnen. Furthermore, Lesnar's biggest weakness is admittedly his hands. A student of the game would surely be interested in watching a fight involving the guy who's widely considered to be the most lethal striker in the history of the sport.

So maybe that's not such an atrocity in the eyes of some people. They're middleweights and Lesnar's a heavyweight. Maybe he considers it irrelevant. How about this? On the same card as Silva vs. Sonnen was Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson in a heavyweight fight that was to decide the next number one contender. Surely the current champ would be interested in that, right?

Lesnar's back woods approach to life and desire to keep away from people and media are his business. He has the potential to regain his title and keep it for a long time but when it comes to doing a little homework to stay current on the major events of the sport that he represents he should probably consider an occasional peek out of the forest.

 |  (32) Comments Marker28: I think he needed somebody to knock him off of his high horse so he could tell the forest from the trees. mike5k: I'm not even talking about his training. I find it amazing that he didn't know who Chael Sonnen was. That's not somebody who's plugged in to the sport and doing everything he can to improve. Bloodbath: He knows who he is. Brock just didn't have an answer to what Sonnen said so he just played the "never heard of him, why should I care what he says" card. That way he doesn't have to address the question from Rome and avoids dealing with the criticism from Sonnen. All this while acting like he is the best thing to happen to the sport of mma. Wow am I glad he lost! B_Type13X2: I agree if I was a relatively inexperienced champion who had gotten the title based solely on my athletic gifts I would watch every fight and study all the great champions like a book. its 3 hours out of your life that you can turn on the TV for. Oh well maybe him losing is a blessing in disguise. xxxFishxxx: Oddly enough, the fact that Brock genuinely had no clue who chael sonnen was makes it even funnier. D_V: I think he knows who Sonnen is. I think he's smarter and a better actor than people give him credit for. Besides. Chael Sonnen is the same age as Brock and I'm pretty sure they wrestled collegiately at the same time. Wrestlers all know each other. It was a work. mike5k: My first thought was that he was lying to make it sound like Sonnen wasn't relevant but no, he was dead serious. He had no idea who he was. EverlastingSpringtime: great read, brock will have to work damn hard if he wants that belt back, maybe now he will want to do his homework Mickey knox: Alls I know is that Fedor's people need to get a copywright on 'the baddest man on the planet' before I lose my shit and start killing motherfuckers.:mad::mad::mad::mad: Mickey knox: DW, and the Fertittas have done good things for the sport, and I'm not trying to bash that, but there's alot of room for improvement, and they're much more interested in pulling all the cash they can. Even if they do it with redarded endeavors like saying they wont give kimbo fights in the UFC unless he gets through TUF, which he didn't, and they gave MR. No legs two fights anyway. That shit is foolishness that in no way makes the sport better. D_V: The UFC has success. There is no doubt about that. It can still be argued that they don't have nearly the success they could have though. They are the only player in the industry. They have a shabby prospect system. Bellator has surpassed TUF as the place for prospects. They have a stagnant market right now. It's not continuing to grow. It has stayed the same for a couple of years. They can say what they want but the only reason it is this big and they broke the records they broke is because they signed a WWE guy in Brock Lesnar and he doubled their PPV audience for when he's on the card. That isn't smart and good business either. It was obvious. Same as the Kimbo and Toney deals. It's obvious. The one question will be whether bringing in celebrity fighters that made their names elsewhere is only good for the short term, the cards they are physically on, or whether it has long term benefit and growth for the sport? I am thinking it has zero long term benefit and growth for the sport. They need to get on ESPN, and off of Spike, outside of TUF (which they need to have real prospects that are better than Bellator's otherwise it will be cancelled in another year), and market the sport as a sport. They need to make it a sport. They need to give title shots based on merit, not name, and fight marketability. If they did everything right they could grow and it would be sustainable. I think they've fallen into a freak show trap and they are too content. DW is growing his business model at the expense of his product. He can't let guys like Askren, Alvarez, Lombard, Conrad, Cormier etc. fight in other organizations to develop, when he could develop them himself on TUF and kill two birds with one stone. Instead he makes personalities out of bums that won't ever be contenders. He's killing his own business. It doesn't look like he is but he is. He'll still and always be the biggest but being the biggest doesn't mean he isn't only about half as big as he damn well should be. I still say if somebody with real money to burn for a couple of years, bought Bellator and Dream/Strikeforce that it would only take those two years to bridge the gap and not only compete with the UFC but beat them. IwishIwasMMA: TUF IwishIwasMMA: They could actually make the FLYW tourney on TUF.. OMG.. I just came.. B_Type13X2: I've said it time and time again I don't put any real value in a fighter coming from TUF. It lacks legitimacy now and I wont even judge a TUF fighter until I actually see them in the octagon outside of the show. horizontalcracker: from: brockedwardlesnar.com "This is NOT confirmed but I heard that Brock injured his bicep while hunting deer in Alberta, Canada. He fell and the (dead) deer's antler gored his arm. Brock went to Medicine Hat Hospital." too bad DV is outta town, he could go hug them hunting nuts right now and make him feel all better
HOW WILL THE THIAGO ALVES VS. MARTIN KAMPMANN FIGHT END AT UFC ON FX 2?
Alves def. Kampmann via TKO/KO
Alves def. Kampmann via submission
Alves def. Kampmann via decision
Kampmann def. Alves via TKO/KO
Kampmann def. Alves via submission
Kampmann def. Alves via decision
TAKE ANOTHER POLL!