The Greatest MMA News Column 01.03.12: Lesnar's Retirement

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 01.03.2012

From his initial signing with the UFC through his meteoric rise and quick fall, 411's Dan Plunkett looks at the short but eventful MMA career of Brock Lesnar! Plus news and thoughts on UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit, the UFC re-hiring Miguel Torres and more!



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Brock Lesnar Retires Following Loss to Alistair Overeem

It can be said with the utmost certainty that Brock Lesnar had the most notable 4 ½ year career in mixed martial arts history. That brief career came to an end on Saturday night as Lesnar succumbed to the body work of Alistair Overeem in the first round of their highly anticipated bout. Immediately following the bout, Lesnar announced his retirement from MMA.

"I've had a really difficult couple of years with my disease," Lesnar told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview, "and I'm gonna [sic] officially say tonight was the last time you'll see me in the Octagon." Lesnar went on to thank the UFC brass that brought him into the company in 2007 despite having only one fight on his record. "I promised my wife and my kids if I won this fight that I would get at that title shot and then that one would be my last one. But if I lost tonight," the 275-pound behemoth trailed off and even appeared to display a bit of emotion. He then thanked the fans and his opponent Overeem one more time, and walked off into the sunset.

In late-2007 when Brock Lesnar signed with the UFC the heavyweight division had very little depth. Champion Randy Couture was on the outs with the company over their inability to sign then-#1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski was on his way out of the company. Frank Mir, another former champion, had looked like a shell of his former self after a devastating motorcycle accident, save for his most recent performance. There was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who didn't quite look like the "Minotauro" of Pride, but he was still one of the best in the world. Tim Sylvia was perennially in title contention. Heath Herring had gone 1-2 in his first three fights in the UFC. And this was at a point when the UFC's heavyweight division was better than it had been in quite some time.

Lesnar, with a mentality of "if I'm not good at this I might as well not waste my time," wanted to fight top guys right off the bat. He brought the same mentality into professional football when he tried out for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. He didn't make the final roster, which was expected given that he hadn't played since high school, and was told to develop his skills in the lower-level NFL Europe; he instead walked away from the sport.

There were two predominant feelings about how Lesnar's foray into mixed martial arts would go. The first was that he was just a pro wrestler that was starting in the sport far too late to be successful. The other was that his collegiate wrestling pedigree as well as athleticism nearly unparalleled for a man his size would be dominant after just a couple years of training. In the end, neither was correct, though certain elements of both combined to tell a good story of Lesnar's career. He was dominant for a very brief period mostly due to his wrestling, strength, and athleticism, but he did start too late to have a truly great career. Regardless, his career ended up being remarkably impactful on the sport.

Perhaps it was a bit of luck, but in hindsight the match-making for Lesnar's first fight was probably the best the UFC has ever done. Former heavyweight champion Frank Mir was coming off his best win in years, submitting one-dimensional kickboxer Antoni Hardonk in little more than a minute on the preliminary card of UFC 74. A fight against Mir made sense not only from a marketing perspective where they could promote it as Lesnar against a former UFC champion, but also because Mir, a great submission fighter, would pose a threat to Lesnar, but it wasn't to the point that people wouldn't count Lesnar out. In fact, by fight time, Lesnar was the betting favorite.

The fight had a great build, with Lesnar looking to prove this wasn't some sort of publicity stunt or cash grab on his part, and Mir making it come across as though he was legitimately offended that Lesnar thought he could compete with him. It was in the build for this fight that Mir first came across as one of the best talkers in MMA, and it certainly helped the dynamic between the two out, but Lesnar was the real draw.

On Super Bowl weekend in 2008, Lesnar finally made his UFC debut. The show did 600,000 buys, which in those days was only being done for shows headlined by Chuck Liddell. The fight itself was among the most exciting 90-seconds in UFC history and had what was probably the ideal outcome. Lesnar easily took Mir down early and was pounding away at his head. Shortly thereafter, the referee stepped in to separate the fighters. Lesnar had hit Mir in the back of the head a couple of times, but they were while Mir was turning away. While hitting to the back of the head is a foul, if the opponent turning is why the punch hits the back of the head, it's not a foul. Usually when this happens, the referee will tell the offensive fighter to "watch the back of the head," but this time the fight was halted. Referee Steve Mazzagatti also took a point away from Lesnar, though that didn't end up mattering. Restarted on the feet, Lesnar either dropped Mir with a straight right or Mir slipped, depending on who you believe, and went in for the finish. An armbar attempt from Mir slowed down Lesnar's onslaught, and gave Mir the opportunity to lock on a knee-bar. He took the opportunity, and Lesnar tapped.



It was the perfect fight because there was the feeling among some that Lesnar was screwed out of a win by the referee, and even those that didn't believe that realized he had potential. Plus, the fight made Frank Mir a star in the eyes of casual fans, and his next four fights did great numbers.

The UFC then matched Lesnar with MMA veteran Heath Herring. In his four-fight UFC career, Herring had traded wins and losses, but in one of those losses came very close to being the first man to stop "Minotauro" Nogueira. Lesnar was the clear favorite entering the bout, as Herring has never been known for his takedown defense or submissions, but was experienced enough that he was given a relatively fair chance. That chance dwindled when Lesnar's first punch sent Herring literally tumbling backward across the cage. "The Texas Crazy Horse" was never able to get any meaningful offense in, and Lesnar rode him out – literally – for a decision. Lesnar's actions towards the end of the fight, where he attempted to ride Herring like a horse and then got up pointing and laughing at him, only further separated the divide between those that hate him and his fans. The show, which was triple headlined by Georges St-Pierre vs. Jon Fitch, Lesnar vs. Herring, and Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta, did 625,000 PPV buys.

What happened next was unexpected. UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture returned to the company. With interim champ "Minotauro" Nogueira and Frank Mir already finished taping a season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC wasn't willing to pull Nogueira from the fight. As a result, the UFC needed someone else to challenge the champion. Realistically, there were only two options: Fabricio Werdum and Lesnar. Werdum was already scheduled to fight newcomer Junior dos Santos in October, and wasn't a well-known fighter. Lesnar on the other hand didn't have any official fights on his plate and the fight would do great business. Obviously, the UFC went with the latter option.

Couture vs. Lesnar received more mainstream promotion since at least the May 2007 Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton Jackson fight. Despite Couture's strong wrestling background and vast experience advantage, most figured the fight to be a coin flip. Technically, Couture was the better wrestler, but Brock was much bigger and much stronger. Striking-wise, Couture had much more experience, but Lesnar showed against Herring that he has punching power. The first round of the fight exemplified how close of a match-up it was. Neither man could take the other down with ease, though Brock did eventually land a couple of takedowns that won him the round. Early on the in the second Lesnar stunned Couture with an elbow, and while the champion recovered, it was a sign of things to come. After a clinching period, Lesnar grazed Couture with a punch and dropped the then-45-year-old. He followed up with hammer fists that finished the fight. Brock Lesnar was the UFC heavyweight champion. The number that circulated the UFC offices was 1,010,000 PPV buys, though other sources have pegged it at 920,000.

Capturing the heavyweight title so soon in a career is almost unheard of. Almost, because it had been done ten years earlier by the man Lesnar took the title from, Randy Couture. However, Couture didn't fight the level of competition that Lesnar did to get to and win the title.

At UFC 92, Frank Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim title to set up a rematch with Lesnar to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion. It was a story that played out so perfectly it could have been a pro wrestling storyline, and even if it had been it wouldn't have played out as well.

Mir was even cockier heading into the rematch, making Lesnar irate and motivated to avenge the loss. The Countdown special was one of the best in UFC history, which was more due to the dynamic between Lesnar and Mir than anything on the production side. The fight was delayed an extra two months due to Mir getting his knee scoped, which landed it in the main event slot of UFC 100. Not only was the build to Lesnar-Mir incredibly compelling, UFC 100 also had a title fight from the second-biggest draw in the company in Georges St-Pierre, and the culmination of an Ultimate Fighter season in the Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping fight. The show received far more media attention than any show in UFC history and did 1,600,000 PPV buys, which is by far the most in company history. For much of the week following the fight, the lead story on sports talk shows was the event and Lesnar.



The rematch saw Lesnar take Mir down and overpower him on the ground. Lesnar held one of Mir's arms and battered his face with ground and pound. At the end of the first round, Mir's face was a mess. The second round was more of the same, but this time Lesnar got the finish and the result he had been waiting fifteen months for. He continually bashed Mir's face with his fist until referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight. After the bout, Lesnar went over to a bloodied, battered Mir and screamed at him. He went on a notorious tirade in his post-fight interview bashing UFC sponsor Bud Light because "they wouldn't pay me nothin'" and sharing with the audience, "I may even get on top of my wife tonight." At that point, Lesnar solidified himself as the face of mixed martial arts, and the mainstream took notice.

Not long after Lesnar beat Mir, UFC rival promotion Affliction folded. As a result, the top heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko became a free agent. At that point, it was believed that a Lesnar vs. Fedor fight would at least match UFC 100's business. It would have been the meeting of the unbeatable Russian fighter that reigned atop the division for the past six years against the most popular and physically imposing fighter in the sport. Though Fedor was still unsigned, the bout was rumored for both UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas, and UFC 106 in Las Vegas, Nevada. At one point, the Fedor signing was signing was considered so close at least one major media outlet reported it as complete. However, the issue of co-promotion between the UFC and Fedor's management M-1 Global kept the two parties from making a deal. The fight that would have easily been the biggest single fight in the history of mixed martial arts never happened.

Powerful heavyweight Shane Carwin was scheduled to fight the up-and-coming Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 when he was pulled out of the fight in favor of a title shot. UFC 106: Lesnar vs. Carwin was slated for November 2009. However, about a month before the fight, Lesnar was forced to pull out with a then-unknown illness. The UFC hoped the champion would be ready for January, but that wouldn't be the case either. It turned out that Lesnar had diverticulitis, an intestinal disease. Initially, it wasn't known if Lesnar would ever fight again. He was ready to undergo career-threatening surgery when he started to make a recovery, and with medication and controlled diet would be able to fight.

In July, just shy of one year since beating Frank Mir, Lesnar returned against Shane Carwin. Lesnar was unable to take Carwin down early on, and as a result was on the receiving end of Carwin's powerful punches. The champion curled up and Carwin went for the finish, but wasn't able to force a stoppage. For the entire first round, Carwin pounded on Lesnar and tired himself out doing so. Just seconds into the second round, it was clearly that Carwin had gassed out. Lesnar easily took him down and submitted him to complete the comeback and defend the title. Lesnar's comeback show did 1,100,000 PPV buys, the second-highest total in company history.



Three months later, Lesnar's title run came to an end. Then-undefeated Cain Velasquez's wrestling proved to be at least sufficient enough to keep the fight on the feet, and his striking was far more developed than Brock's. He rocked Brock and sent the champion tumbling across the cage in a similar way that Lesnar had sent Heath Herring two years earlier. It was a dominant performance from Velasquez, who finished Lesnar with less than a minute remaining in the first round.

After briefly being linked to a rubber match against Frank Mir, Lesnar was matched up with Junior dos Santos. The deal was that they would coach The Ultimate Fighter and fight after the season. Brock coached the entire season, but afterward fell ill in his training camp. His second bout with diverticulitis convinced Lesnar to get surgery this time around.

In the fall, Lesnar resurfaced. This time, he claimed to be completely healthy, especially when compared to his 2010 campaign. While on his farm, Lesnar got a call from UFC president Dana White asking if he would be interested in fighting former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. Lesnar accepted the fight.

Perhaps Brock wasn't as healthy as he was leading others to believe, or maybe he just felt as though he had made enough money where he didn't need to put his health on the line fighting in a cage anymore. Either way, somewhere along the way Lesnar made his decision to end his short MMA stint in one of his next two fights. The exact reason for Lesnar's retirement isn't known, and given his proclivity for privacy the reason may never be clear. Lesnar has been known to jump around and try things out until he fails at them, but Lesnar didn't fail at mixed martial arts. He won the heavyweight title. He beat two former or current champions. He was the first #1 ranked heavyweight in the UFC in a decade. With the exception of his debut fight against Min-Soo Kim, he didn't have a single easy fight in his career. He did what very, very few athletes have ever done and that is advancing their sport. Sure, he made up for his lack of technique with brute strength and athleticism, he never quite got the striking game down and he was never great at taking a punch, but Brock Lesnar's MMA endeavor was a successful one.

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NEWS!

UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit slated for January 20 debut on FX.Perhaps the most successful promotional tool the UFC has, the UFC Primetime series, will return for the interim welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. The UFC is at a point where 2012 could potentially have some big fights (Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans; Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen) but they will be without their proven big pay-per-view stars. Chuck Liddell is long gone, having retired after a summer 2010 loss. Brock Lesnar's run as a mega-draw ended with his retirement from the sport on Saturday night. Georges St-Pierre, whose shows consistently draw in the high six-figures on pay-per-view and has a great traveling fan base, is out of action with a torn ACL and will fight one time at most this year. As a result, it is imperative for the UFC to create new stars.

UFC Primetime has historically had success in building fights and creating stars. The problem, however, has been sustaining those fighters as stars. The first UFC Primetime show built to the Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn rematch for the welterweight title. That show is perhaps the best example of the potential of the series, as after that fight St-Pierre truly became the top star he's recognized as today, and Penn's subsequent lightweight title defenses all did very well on pay-per-view.



Other shows showcasing Dan Hardy and Jake Shields (both leading to fights against St-Pierre) created temporary stars. Granted, Hardy has been more of a success than Shields as he is a draw in the UK, but in subsequent fights they were able to sustain very little of the notoriety that resulted from UFC Primetime. A lot of that is due to them losing to St-Pierre, but some of the blame can be placed on the show as well. Keep in mind that Primetime is meant to peak with the fight it's building towards, as it should, but creating long-term stars is needed.

The success of shows that get the UFC Primetime treatment can't be denied. Two pay-per-views reached over a million buys and none of the other three dipped below 770,000 buys. However, all of those shows were going to do well anyway. To this point, there hasn't been a fight that got the treatment that would have done under 600,000 buys anyway. That changes when UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit debuts on January 20.

Under normal circumstances, Diaz vs. Condit would have no business beating the 280,000 buys that Diaz's last bout against BJ Penn, a much bigger star than Condit, did. But with Primetime, significantly more people will know about the fight and why it's so intriguing. Plus, it comes a week after the UFC's second FOX special, where it could receive a big push. The x-factor on the success of the series and subsequent PPV will be Nick Diaz. In my mind, this will go one of two ways as it pertains to Nick. Either he will be uncomfortable and shy around the cameras and it will show in a big way, or something will get him upset and it will be television gold. Over the course of three weeks with both fighters being followed around and interviewed, surely Condit will say or do something that will set Diaz off. If Diaz comes off as the firestorm of controversy that he has on previous occasions, just with a larger audience on Primetime, it could be the thing to turn him into a larger star and make the pay-per-view a success.

For the UFC to break even on the show, it will need to add about 70,000 buys to the pay-per-view. Essentially, that means anything past 350,000 buys would be good considering the current landscape. If the fight approaches the numbers that other fights featured on Primetime have done, it will show that as a promotional vehicle the show is incredibly effective, though that isn't likely. Even if the show goes over 500,000 buys, which just two years ago would have been slightly below the average show, it's a great success for the UFC. Not just because they're making money on the pay-per-view, but it shows that you can take two fighters who aren't well known and build a financially successful fight between them on Primetime, which is absolutely huge as they have fewer and fewer stars for each show they run.

Dennis Siver looking to drop to featherweight. Siver has always been one of the more muscular fighters in the lightweight division, but he was also on the shorter end at 5'7". Dennis had been doing well until his recent loss to Donald Cerrone, where he did have a problem with Cerrone's length and being unable to get inside. If the cut doesn't drain him too much, I think the move will help Siver.

Miguel Torres is back in the UFC. This certainly isn't a surprise. I predicted last week that Torres would be back in the UFC, so I'm 1/1 so far on my predictions. According to Dana White, Torres has been taking rape sensitivity classes and donating money to the cause. Of course, his firing stemmed from a Tweet about a "rape van" about a month ago.

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I'm out of time for this week. The Lesnar article took much longer than I expected, so next week I'll have rundowns of UFC 141 and the DREAM show next week as well as your picks for the Year End awards from my column last week. Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it. You can join 117 others and follow me on Twitter if you please. Feel free to leave feedback in the comment box or at the e-mail address below.