Lesnar: The Beast is Back

Who is the most polarizing figure in sports today? Over my lifetime, I would argue the three most polarizing sports stars that I have since are Mahammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Alex Rodriguez. Eric Bischoff once “wrote” an autobiography entitled “Controversy Creates Cash.” That has never been more true when looking at Ali, Tyson, and A-Rod. All three men stirred up the masses like no other person in their respective sports. When they were on the screen, or in the news, you stood up to pay attention.

Since I was too young to really feel the impact that Ali had on society and the media, for me the ”king” of controversy was Mike Tyson. Whenever “Iron Mike” was involved in anything, it was big news. Tyson’s celebrity in a non-Twitter, non-TMZ world was like nothing that I had ever seen. Since Tyson has gotten older, and less controversial, he’s not as polarizing as he once was. Instead, he seems reborn as a charismatic, loveable person.

BROCK MEANS MONEY

Who, in today’s sports world, takes up the mantle as the biggest star in the sports world? Some may argue Lebron James. Others, may say Tom Brady. For me, I’m going with Brock Lesnar. Unlike Lebron and Brady, Brock Lesnar tries to keep himself out of the limelight. He’s a very private person, and doesn’t go for all of the “celebrity” that being a sports figure would entitle him to garner. However, when Brock does something, the world takes notice.

While Conor McGregor and Rhonda Rousey have put up pay per view two and one buy rate of over 1,000,000 buys each, Brock Lesnar has four pay per views in the top eleven PPVs that drew over a million buys. On Saturday, he should notch his fifth over 1,000,000 buy rate on his belt. It can be argued that Brock Lesnar is the biggest pay per view draw in MMA history. When Brock is on a card, people want to see him fight.

Even Lesnar’s non-MMA activities make news. When Brock Lesnar came back to the WWE, the internet was on fire buzzing about his return. When Lesnar signed his contract extension with the WWE before WrestleMania XXXI, he made the announcement on ESPN’s SportsCenter. This was before the WWE and ESPN decided to have a working arrangement with one another. When he captured the WWE World title from John Cena at SummerSlam 2014, many reputable non-wrestling websites covered the story. Last week, when he was named as the cover boy for the upcoming WWE video game, even that received mainstream coverage from sites like cbssports.com. Of course, when he made the announcement that he would fight at UFC 200, everyone covered the story. It could be argued that aside from the pending UFC sale, that Brock Lesnar’s return to the octagon is the biggest MMA story of the year.

DID THE WWE DROP THE BALL?

When it was first announced that Brock Lesnar would be fighting at UFC 200, many people thought that this would be a joint venture between the UFC and WWE. After all, Vince McMahon had to be getting something out of the deal. Otherwise, why would Vince agree to let Brock fight for Dana White? I figured that there would be some kind of cross promotion, like the WWE hyping Brock’s return to UFC along with UFC hyping up Lesnar’s appearance at SummerSlam.

That would be a win-win scenario for the WWE. By hyping up Lesnar’s UFC appearance, you are showing your fans that Brock really is the “baddest man on the planet” (Sorry, Tyson). After all, what other professional wrestler would go directly from the squared circle of sports entertainment and straight to the octagon to fight a top ranked MMA fighter? Mark Hunt isn’t a push over. He has split second knockout power, so this isn’t a handpicked jobber being thrown at Lesnar.

With the WWE hyping UFC 200, the could have asked that UFC returns the favor in hyping SummerSlam. With UFC 200 easily expecting to get over a million buys, there would be over a million sets of eyes and ears on the show that would hear about the WWE’s upcoming SummerSlam pay per view event. Instead, aside from the website reporting that Brock Lesnar will fight for UFC, the WWE has ignored this fact on all of their broadcasts.

Another way the WWE has dropped the ball on Brock’s foray into the UFC is by announcing on RAW that they will reveal Brock’s SummerSlam opponent during this week’s SmackDown! episode. Why not wait until next Thursday’s episode to announce it instead of this week? This way, based on how Brock Lesnar performs at UFC 200, you can insert him into a higher or lower profile match. If he beats Mark Hunt, with all of the publicity that will come out of his fight, it would make sense to put him in the WWE championship match at SummerSlam. If he loses at UFC 200, then you can put him on the show against a Randy Orton type performer.

PREDICTION TIME

This fight is definitely a clash of styles. The wrestler vs. the knockout artist. It’s as simple as this. If Brock Lesnar can take Mark Hunt to the ground, Brock will win. If it turns into a boxing match, Mark Hunt will be victorious. Win or lose, it will be very interesting to see what happens with Brock Lesnar’s WWE career. Does he get even more popular in the WWE universe following a victory over Hunt where the WWE eventually puts the belt on him again, since he proved to be the “baddest man on the planet?” If he loses, the WWE basically wasted Lesnar breaking the Undertaker’s undefeated streak for the UFC’s gain. In a few short days, we should find out what path will be taken. As for me, I remember the Brock Lesnar who was bigger, faster, and stronger than the rest of the UFC heavyweights. Maybe it’s the wrestling fan in me, but I think Brock Lesnar pulls it out. Then, we will see if Lesnar gets the bug to fight more bouts in the octagon. And we’ll see if Vince allows another “once in a lifetime” UFC fight for Brock. That may turn out more interesting than the Lesnar/Hunt fight itself. The seeds get planted this Saturday. Something tells me that the UFC and the WWE will never be quite the same again.