On the eve of the sixth fight of his mixed martial arts career, Brock Lesnar is on the verge of being crowned the best heavyweight in the sport, if he hasn’t ascended to the throne already. You read that right — six fights, best in the business, or just about.
After walking away from a lucrative career with World Wrestling Entertainment and failing to make the cut with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, Lesnar decided to give MMA, and the results have been nothing short of incredible.
While people often focus on Lesnar’s professional wrestling past, it’s his collegiate credentials that have made him a dominant force inside the octagon. The 2000 NCAA Division I heavyweight champion, Lesnar brings a blend of speed and power never before seen in a heavyweight, and when combined with his tremendous wrestling base, it made Lesnar an immediate force to be reckoned with.
The argument can be made that Lesnar has been the top heavyweight in mixed martial arts for the past year. With his rout of Frank Mir at UFC 100 last July, Lesnar unified the UFC heavyweight title and established himself as the biggest dog in the biggest yard in the sport.
Fedor Emelianenko stood as the only challenger. Actually, it was the other way around; while Lesnar was the No. 1 man in the No. 1 organization, many still viewed Emelianenko as the top heavyweight in the sport. Despite competing outside of the UFC and facing opponents deemed lesser than the challengers faced and defeated by Lesnar and his UFC contemporaries, Emelianenko’s lengthy unbeaten streak and impressive resume kept him atop the heavyweight rankings for many people.
Essentially, it came down to a question of what you valued more: Emelianenko’s history of success during the glory days of Pride and continued string of victories since the demise of Japan’s top organization, or Lesnar’s place at the head of the heavyweight table in the UFC.
Was it possible for a fighter with just five professional fights to be considered the best in the business?
Many said no, citing Emelianenko as the sport’s top heavyweight, but all of that changed last Saturday night. With his loss to Fabricio Werdum, Emelianenko lost his grasp on the top rung, and Lesnar is in a position to grab it with a victory over Shane Carwin at UFC 116.
What’s more is that if Lesnar is able to dispose of Carwin — like he has his last three opponents — it’s entirely possible that he will remain atop those rankings for quite some time.
A win this weekend will remove any possible doubts about Lesnar’s supremacy, as Carwin brings the blend of skills believed by many to be necessary for beating him. He’s not the same fighter who fell prey to a knee bar in his UFC debut; it’s going to take a strong wrestler with legitimate power to test the heavyweight champion, and that is precisely what Carwin brings to the table.
The knock against Lesnar has been his physical dominance over his opponents. He dwarfed Randy Couture, and the size advantage he presented against Frank Mir prompted the two-time former champion to add more than twenty-pounds of muscle before their second meeting, despite having beaten Lesnar in their initial encounter.
Carwin won’t be at a size disadvantage; in fact, the interim champion will be the bigger of the two on Saturday night, as Lesnar is a little lighter since recovering from his battle with diverticulitis. That is if you can consider walking around at 265-pounds “smaller.”
In addition to being the smaller of the two competitors for the first time in his career, this will also be Lesnar’s first encounter against an opponent with proven knockout power. Though both Mir and Couture have had a few fistic finishes in their day, Carwin has made a habit of putting his opponents on the mat with his fists. Make no mistake about it — Lesnar’s chin is going to be tested.
That is what makes this encounter even more intriguing.
Beyond being a unification bout for the UFC heavyweight titles, this is the first time Lesnar will “pick on someone his own size” and be put in a position to show that talent and ability have also been a part of the package that has brought him to this point, and not just his stature and physique. It will also show whether the returning champion has some defensive tools too, as avoiding Carwin’s offensive advances will play as big a part in securing a win as well.
Ultimately, this is a battle for the top spot in the heavyweight rankings throughout the sport, and one that Lesnar is favored to win.
If he does, there will be no more questions.
Brock Lesnar will be the sport’s top heavyweight after just six fights, and that would be both incredible and indisputable.
