Brock Lesnar – Hurtful to the sport or not?
Despite UFC 100 being SEVEN DAYS AGO, the splash damage left from it is uncontrollable. It seems like the talk of the week from almost every MMA-related web site, publication, blog, or message board has been about Brock Edward Lesnar and his post-match promo after beating Frank Mir. It’s ironic that some of these alleged “MMA Purists” who want MMA to be seen as a sport more so than an entertainment decide to focus all of their energy on everything NOT related to the actual fight.
Some of Mixed Martial Arts most well-known writers have been jibber-jabbering back and forth as to whether or not this is a positive or a negative for the sport of MMA and more so the UFC. On one side of the argument, some feel Brock’s rebellious attitude of flipping off the fans and bashing the sponsors is going to make UFC look bush-league and “pro wrestling-ish”. Keep in mind that as of this writing, no sponsor has yet to pull out of UFC. They feel that Brock should be a good sportsman and act like a professional after winning a professional MMA fight, despite there not being any sort of rule in the “Unified Rules” against speaking your mind. Still, some see it as unprofessional.
The other side of spectrum, the majority of which are open-minded pro wrestling fans, long-time boxing fans, or long-time MMA fans, think that Brock’s promo is nothing but a pro for the UFC and will sell even more tickets. Lesnar is a PROVEN seller of tickets and Pay-Per-Views and I feel he will CONTINUE to do so, specially with all of the OTHER fans clamoring for somebody to come along and rip his head off. In my opinion, they’ll pay for each and every Brock fight until it happens, and this will make Lesnar, the UFC, and whoever his opponent is LOTS of money.
How people think this is a con, I’ll never understand. Throughout sports, larger than life celebrities and athletes have ALWAYS been around. Look at guys like Terrell Owens, Dennis Rodman, Mike Tyson, and Muhammad Ali. These guys were notorious trash talkers and they did nothing but draw attention to the sport.
Or how about the guys that did truly despicable acts.
Can you really compare what Lesnar did to what Michael Vick did?
Can you really compare what Lesnar did to what OJ Simpson did (allegedly)?
All these situations happened AFTER the athletic competition (whether it be fight or game) was over. Is the NFL in ANY DANGER of LOSING fans??
Did Lesnar ever make dogs fight each other and run an illegal gambling ring? Has Lesnar ever murdered ANYBODY to our knowledge? Has Lesnar ever attacked a fighter AFTER the fight was already over? Has Lesnar even failed a wellness test since coming to the UFC?
Or worst of all…
HAS LESNAR EVER TRIED TO RELEASE A TERRIBLE RAP ALBUM????????????????????????
I THINK NOT!
Lesnar flipped off the fans that turned on him (ensuring that 99% will buy a ticket to come back, and that was obvious since the crowd was all hardcores), said he was going to drink beer, and have CONSENSUAL SEX with his WIFE! So even if you’re one of those “I’ll wait until I’m married” type folks, HE’S MARRIED FOLKS! SHE IS THE MOTHER OF HIS KIDS! But I digress, while I don’t agree with him bashing UFC sponsors, everything else he said, at least to me, was perfectly fine. Others don’t agree and you know what, opinions are like assholes – everybody has one (unless you were born with no asshole or had it removed with some surgery or something).
Myself and FGB Editor GG discussed this in GREAT detail on the Friday Edition of the AngryMarks Podcast (which you can listen to by clicking HERE).
We want to hear from you. What do YOU think?
Give us YOUR thoughts on Brock Lesnar. Comment below and thank you in advance.
My problem isn’t with what Lesnar said, but what he did:
1) Getting in Mir’s face after the fight to provoke another fight is completely unprofessional, unsportsmanlike and is in no way acceptable.
2) Flipping off the fans is also completely unprofessional and unsportsmanlike. Whether it should be acceptable as part of his “freedom of speech” is debatable.
I have no problem with Lesnar’s comments about his opponent, his sponsors, UFCs sponsors or his wife are of no concern. Such ribaldry is just a natural expression stemming from an aggressive sport. But the disdain you show for your opponents and fans is not something that Dana White should be comfortable with.
An understandable opinion. Thing is, he wasn’t provoking another fight. All he said to Mir was “go ahead and talk your shit now”, no different than a high school jock football player would do to a rival team.
What does flipping off fans have to do with being a sportsman? They were booing him and yelling obscenities. It’s not like he fought a fan. Austin was the biggest star in the history of the business and what did he do? Flip birds and drink beer.
As for what you said about Dana; this is the same guy who almost BOXED Tito Ortiz on TV and used homophobic slurs and heavy insults towards Loretta Hunt. Dana and Brock are almost up the same alley.
I appreciate your comments though, but i gotta ask you
Are you gonna watch the next Brock fight?
Here is my opinion on Lesnar.
I didn’t like anything he did; giving the finger to the fans, acting like a jilted little kid because Bud Light didn’t pay him, getting in Mir’s face after he smashed it in etc. etc. etc. I like MMA because I am immensely impressed by the discipline these men show. I love how these guys can attempt to break each other and the moment the ref speaks instantly stop and follow orders. Its really incredible. If these guys played football flags wouldn’t be necessary. Lesnar didn’t fit that, and I didn’t really care for it.
But it was GREAT television. Awesome. Pure gold. F-ing loved it. When he was spitting and screaming into the camera, he was like an animal and it was totally badass. Lesnar is probably the scariest guy on the planet at the moment. And of course I am going to pay to see someone break him.
Sports have the best story lines in the world because they are real. And bad guys are always great because they give us heroes. Tito Ortiz and Tank Abbott helped build the UFC as much as Liddell and Couture. Now its Lesnar’s turn to be the bad guy and hopefully a hero emerges to bring him down. Its compelling stuff.
And there is also no doubt this was good for UFC. The topic has been on Yahoo’s front page every day the past week; free promotion! It was brilliant real marketing.
Finally, I couldn’t care less about the wife comment; it was on PPV, there was porn on the channel above it. Come on…
Yay! Killa Kev.
My problem isn’t with what Lesnar said, but what he did:
1) Getting in Mir’s face after the fight to provoke another fight is completely unprofessional, unsportsmanlike and is in no way acceptable.
There are unprofessional jerks in sports. It’s just a fact. If you don’t like what those guys do, and this is consistent with “Killa” Kev, than I’m fine with your opinion on this.
2) Flipping off the fans is also completely unprofessional and unsportsmanlike. Whether it should be acceptable as part of his “freedom of speech” is debatable.
It was a little rebellious and reckless, but I think that part of it was completely an act. Again, if this fits your regular criteria, than I have no issues with your opinion again.
I have no problem with Lesnar’s comments about his opponent, his sponsors, UFCs sponsors or his wife are of no concern. Such ribaldry is just a natural expression stemming from an aggressive sport. But the disdain you show for your opponents and fans is not something that Dana White should be comfortable with.
I actually had more of an issue with him saying he was going to jump on his wife than anything else he did.
And I had an issue with it for two reasons particularly. It insinuated that she wasn’t going to have an opinion about whether or not he was going to jump on top of her, and this is after he held down a 245 pound man without much effort. In my mind, I thought, wait, he could hold her down with one arm.
Obviously, they are married. Obviously, he wouldn’t just sexually assault his own wife. But that was immediately in my mind based on that comment.
The other issue I had with it is that she just gave birth less than a month ago and her body is probably not completely back to health when it comes to Brock humbling her. Again, they are married and whatever they do is their business. But I kind of cringed thinking about her poor body.
I’m just glad Killa Kev commented on FGB.
JP gives an interesting view on this. As a “sports” fan, he hated the Lesnar deal. As a fan of “entertainment”, he loved it.
I don’t think people are as enlightened about the entertainment aspect of the UFC as he is.
Interesting views JP.
JP sees both sides of this and that is a great way to look at it. Bottom line is – if they havent turned off Bud Light – they’ll be fine.
GG’s sister though – that could be a problem.
However, GG’s sister has a great brother who I’m sure will convince her to watch Brock again. Let’s hope all the sisters out there have that.
After he made the comments about his wife, I was more surprised to find out his wife is Sable.
She was the wrestling love of my life when I was younger. The Bikini contest when she wore nothing but black hand prints…oh my lawd!
Maybe I don’t like Brock because I’m furious he married my first true love. I can’t be sure.
I wish he would’ve married Missy Hyatt.
Sable looked like she was 60 BACK THEN… so I can’t say i agree.
Still though, you can get probably somebody equally hot if you hit the gym and get a swort tattoo on your torso.
Looking back she does look better now than she did then.
If I hit the gym and get the sword tattoo, I want Stacey Keibler to be my bride.
Big D would rather be in Chyna.
Don’t put words in MY MOUTH! That’s what YOU said.
On a totally unrelated note, I was gonna title this post “Brock Lesnar, Brock Lesnar, Lesnar, Brock” just to get full hits.