Make no mistake about it, Brock Lesnar’s overall fighting skills has immensely improved. He is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion and he proved that he is worthy of such prestige when he avenged his defeat to Frank Mir last Saturday at UFC 100, and in such devastating fashion at that.
This time, Lesnar did not make the same rookie mistake that he did last time when he was actually winning the fight and Mir was able to submit him by knee bar. This time Lesnar effectively took down Mir at will and used his bulk to tire him out. Lesnar repeatedly rained down punches on Mir’s head and body while on top and at the end of the first round, the damage showed on Mir’s face. He looked like he had been run over by a freight train.
In the second round, Lesnar continued to do what was working for him in the opening round and eventually pounded out Mir. While Mir’s face was a swollen, bloody mess, Lesnar’s mug was mostly untouched. He had thoroughly dominated the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion and proved his critics wrong.
But, make no mistake about it, Brock Lesnar’s overall people skills still needs a lot of improvement.
Joe Rogan interviewed Lesnar immediately after the fight and you could hear the unmistakable sound of jeers and boos from the crowd. This seemed to anger Lesnar and he proceeded to taunt the spectators, egging them on to boo him even more. After that, Lesnar wasn’t satisfied and proceeded to badmouth UFC sponsor Bud light, saying that he was going to celebrate by drinking a Coors light because the former didn’t pay him any money.
Lesnar then capped off the interview by saying that he just might “get on top” of his wife.
Naturally, UFC President Dana White did not like what he heard. “I was blown away,” White said. “I don’t think in the history of the UFC we’ve had anybody do that. It’s not who we are, and, to be honest, it’s not who he is. You hang with these guys personally, and you get to know them. If he was a dick, I’d tell you right now this guy is a psycho and I don’t know what I’m going to do with him. He’s not. He’s a smart guy. The sponsorship thing was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Brock went so far over the top, I can’t even put it into words,” White added. “WWE -- that’s what it is. We had a talk. We talked like men, and he said he was sorry. He said, ‘I’m embarrassed by what I said.’ I take his word for it this time.”
Lesnar, for his part, apologized in a post fight press conference.
“I acted very unprofessionally after the fight, and I’ll leave it at that,” Lesnar said. “You guys ask me all the time if there’s anything I can drag over from WWE, and I guess you’ve seen a little bit of that tonight. I’m used to selling pay-per-view tickets. Dana came back, and we had our whip-the-dog session. I screwed up, and I apologize.”
It’s a good thing that Lesnar apologized for saying all those things. He should realize that no matter how unfair or aggressive a crowd can get, the last thing you should do is alienate paying customers. Not to mention, antagonize a paying sponsor.
Henderson gets the last laugh
Personally I never liked fighters who would talk too much crap. Although trash talking adds more drama and helps to hype up a fight, I always viewed trash talkers as people lacking in confidence. Perhaps they try to cover up whatever they lack in confidence by trying to disrespect and discredit the other guy?
In any case, Dan Henderson ended Michael Bisping’s trash talking spree by shutting him up via brutal knockout.
Bisping was never really in the fight as Henderson kept on stalking him, shrugging off his punches. It was clear at the outset that the American had the heavier hands and that even grazing blows would affect and hurt the younger Bisping. The Englishman was forced to back up the entire fight and couldn’t really get his game going offensively. The end came at 3:20 of the second round when a thunderous Henderson right hand landed flush on Bisping’s chin. The “Count” dropped down to the mat for the count, but Henderson made sure Bisping wouldn’t get the chance to get up again as he landed a second shot to the downed Englishman.
For his part, Henderson seemed to enjoy the opportunity to silence Bisping. He remarked in a post fight interview that the second shot to the downed Brit’s face was to teach him a lesson in humility.
I hope that while Bisping is busy licking his wounds, he heeds this “lesson” well. Not that he will be that eager to have a rematch with Henderson in the near future anyway.
St-Pierre dominates Alves
Honestly, can anyone in the current UFC welterweight division stand up to Georges St-Pierre and give him enough of a challenge?
I thought that the naturally bigger Alves would pose a few problems to St-Pierre. On the contrary, St-Pierre seemed to be the stronger guy as he repeatedly took down the Brazilian at will and imposed his superior ground game. Alves looked helpless the entire fight. St-Pierre won by unanimous decision and successfully defended his belt for the third time.
No Robbery
Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher got $100,000 each for winning fight of the night. Theirs was a barnburner of a bout. Although Akiyama defeated Belcher via split decision, UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg ‘s comments left a bad taste in my mouth.
When the judges’ decision was announced in favor of Akiyama, both commentators said that Belcher was robbed. In my opinion, the cleaner and crisper strikes were thrown by Akiyama and Belcher didn’t do enough to win. It was also a bit weird that during the course of the fight they kept on singing high praises for every Belcher punch that connected and downplayed Akiyama’s efforts. Well, I can’t blame them. Maybe they were watching a different fight.
