WWE’s Brock Lesnar lost his first UFC fight, amassed a 5-3 record, got a terrible case of diverticulitis and was retired back into pro wrestling via TKO helplessness by Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem. Because of this, 5-time champion Randy Couture believes Lesnar deserves a spot alongside him in the UFC Hall of Fame. Wait, sorry, I think I copy-pasted that in wrong.
Hold on, let me check the video:
As our friends at Cage Potato note, Couture is pretty quick to jump on the “yes” bandwagon, though that may have something to do with Lesnar punching his face through the back of his head at UFC 91.
Halls of Fame are always put together with the idea that some objective criteria (be it a Super Bowl ring or 300 Wins or whatever) qualifies you as officially better than your contemporaries and worthy of permanent enshrinement, but it ultimately comes down to a few people who run the building saying yea or nay. For Lesnar, it’s a matter of comparing one UFC Heavyweight Championship win and a sh*t-ton of pay-per-view buys against a Hall of Fame ideal that values mixed-martial arts achievement over UFC’s bottom line.
Do I personally think Lesnar belongs in the UFC Hall of Fame? Of course not, but I’m no MMA historian. I say induct him, then uninduct him in a few years when he gets bored. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Use curse words.
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Fucking Penis
Lesnar probably shouldn’t be in the UFC Hall of Fame
Umm… Near as I can tell his true contribution to the sport was to hold some PPV viewership records for a while. You could say that he came into a burgeoning business and participated in its elevation, but things you can’t say are 1) That he dominated, 2) He revolutionized, 3) That he had a long run, 4) That he put MMA or the UFC on the map.
So, not so much. And I recall Couture winning most of that match until he took that punch from Lesnar (kind of to the side of the head, but with “hands like hams” it doesn’t take much).
That blow was well behind the ear from what I recall, and I thought that was the limit for “back of the head”. But most of the time, all that gets is like fifty stern warnings and then the ref might consider taking a point.
No, the Brocktopus should not be in the UFC Hall of Fame. Might as well just put all champions in, because, hey, Andrei Arlovski had a pretty bitchin’ beard!
There should be a MMA Hall of Fame, though, because a guy like Kazushi Sakuraba should be honored before Japan makes him fight a robot and his brain entirely liquefies.
Nowholeonaminuteplaya, Arlovski had the greastest MMA theme song of all time! Onward to Victory was customised for him! That’s definitly gotta be HOF worthy. . . even if he lost to Sylvia.
You do have a point. I will admit, the long-haired, big bearded Arlovski with the fang mouthguard was super-rad.
Arvlovski still remains one of my faves simply because of how bad ass he used to look back then. Poor guy really could have been a legend if it wasn’t for that damn chin. Best pure HW boxer of his era.
I did like his win against Sylvia (Oh, ground and pound isn’t working, guess I’ll go for a leglock!) and his defenses against Eilers and Buentello.
A big mark against him, though, is getting KOed in his first fight against Viacheslav “I’m Literally an Insane Person” Datsik.
In terms of making more people pay attention to MMA he deserves to be in the HOF. UFC got pushed into the mainstream consciousness by the Griffin-Bonnar battle, then got a little more popular, but not that much. Brock coming in gave the UFC it’s next big push. And remember, this is the UFC HOF..not the MMA HOF…very similar to the WWE HOF
I see that side, especially if “Mask” from the Tapout gang is in the HoF.
Maybe a trade betwixt WWE and UFC. Brock goes in the UFC HoF and either Shamrock or Severn go in the WWE HoF.
I could see that happening. I think part of the reason UFC left SpikeTv was because Dana White was tired of being associated with the shit show that is TNA. If Dana wants to cross promote with a wrestling promotion it isn’t gonna be with the one hardly anyone watches. And besides, him and Vince have always had a decent business relationship.
Then Dana could brag that one of the UFC originals is so bad ass, he’s in the Hall of Fame of two different sports/organizations. Plus, TUF 1 was greatly helped out by the Raw lead-in, so it makes sense (not really, but I am delusional).
I do like when random Bellator folks get on Impact to talk up the fights on MTV2. But Bellator is way better run than TNA.
Their MMA equivalent would maybe be a toss up between pre-Zuffa Strikeforce (Yo, Brett Rogers, you lost to Emelianenko? Here’s a title shot against Overreem!), any of the current Japanese organizations (Sorry, no money for you!) or maybe Affliction (We have put all of our faith into Josh Barnett knowing how to cycle off his PEDs and have no back-up plan in case this fails horribly)
Yes, yes, yes… sorry But Brock does deserve it he came in and really did dominate when he was healthy and 100%. His first fight with Mir he killed Mir but lost due to knot knowing to defend the ground game. His fights were all with top tier competitors and yes people flocked to watch him kick ass or get his ass kicked. His attitude at UFC 100 is what people still talk about today. Also I would argue his presence made folks step up their game and brought the heavy weight division in a whole new direction. Not many fighters before Brock came in had to LOSE WEIGHT to fight. His match up with Carwin brought up questions on wither or not to introduce a “Super Heavyweight” division. Believe it or not he had an impact on the UFC.
I will give him credit for helping to get rid of the Brandon Vera types and their dreams of being a heavyweight champ. Now if only someone would get of Brandon Vera entirely.
Lesnar should be in the HOF as much as Shaq should be the Magic’s next GM. Lesnar did not dominate the UFC. Had he beaten Overeem and beaten the next guy after that fight, MAYBE you could consider him into the HOF. But at 5-3? No way.
He did not revolutionize or have a long run in the UFC.
Well, it wasn’t like the HW division was chock full of competition during his championship reign like it is now. I give him credit for actually fighting good fighters and not padding his record by smashing a bunch of cans.
I don’t know if he belongs in the UFC Hall of Fame though. The UFC hasn’t been around long enough to actually put in truly great fighters like Silva or GSP. Randy and Brock actually have the same win % and I’d say their impacts on the sport are somewhat comparable.
You could make a case for him being in, but I’m not going to because I really should finish this project I’m working on before I get yelled at for not working.
Length of his run in the UFC should not be considered. The dude’s career was cut short from having a foot of his colon removed, and was damn near his death bed in Canada. Let’s be honest here folks the day Brock left so did a lot of UFC viewers. If you look at the PPV buys when he was fighting millions of people watched. When he didnt your looking at 300-600k would watch. For the UFC he put butts in seats and calls to the cable company. That alone is worthy of being in the UFC HoF.
I’d like to see what the numbers are for GSP’s next fight. He was drawing pretty good numbers himself.
I’m just waiting for a Kimbo Slice fan to show up here…make your pitch and GTFO brah.
his beard belongs in the hall of fame!
also, the kimboplex was kind of rad
that’s about all for argument i’ve got, i’m too exhausted to think of other reasons
whew
Nice
I’m looking over Randy’s record, and damn, he fought a lot of pro wrestlers, or guys that did a bit of pro wrestling (Granted, nearly every Japanese heavyweight did pro wrestling in addition to MMA). He beat Ludvig Borga in his first match!
I have to say that I’m not totally against this. It seems really dumb on paper, sure, but…first of all, look at the list of heavyweights with more than one consecutive title defense. Pretty short list, but Brock’s name is on it. Sure, he didn’t fight that much, but at the same time, you’d have to agree that he could’ve stuck a little more if he didn’t have to deal with diverticulitis. On top of all that, though, other Halls of Fame typically involve or induct people that were popular even if they aren’t completely at the top of the game itself…and again, you can’t deny that Brock was THE guy in UFC during its upward swing in popularity.
Again, I can see it either way, but it wouldn’t totally surprise me. Obviously, Couture has a little more cred than I do, and he says yes. Hard to argue with that.
Randy also said yes to being in Scorpion King 2, Expendables 1 and 2 and cheating on his wife.
If Coleman vouches for him, Brock should be in.
Lobster Mobster dont forget Randy also endorses the Body By Jake door frame machine…
I got to door, I got a gym!
I definitely think he should be in. I think everyone is putting too little weight on the PPV numbers. Brock brought in TONS of people that had never watched before. He also won the UFC HW Championship in record time and defended the belt two times! He then had a life threatening illness and was never the same. I think he should be in because of what he did in the cage, but also because of his contributions to the sport.
He won it in record time because Dana saw the money he could get with Lesnar. Losing to Mir and then beating Herring shouldn’t have resulted in a title shot. I feel the same way about Anderson Silva beating Leben and getting a shot at Franklin, but Silva has proven he deserved it.
I should also say that I DON’T think he should be in ahead of guys like Frank Shamrock. Shamrock should definitely be in before Brock IMO.
I can agree to that. I’m a little surprised they didn’t induct Evan Tanner after his death.
Brock made MMA more popular, no one is arguing that. He held the HW title for a little while, but was overcome by a serious injury/sickness. He did not evolve the MMA game at all. He caught a wave, had moderate success and a few memorable fights. Not even close to HOF career.
I bet Dana White and the people selling sponsorships for the UFC would disagree with your premise that Lesnar didn’t evolve the MMA game. Moderate success? Really? If you ask an MMA fighter, without using names, about the level of success attained by winning the UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD AND DEFENDING IT TWICE, I can assure you they would laugh at your assertion that that is moderate success. That’s ridiculous.
I agree with AG that Brock didn’t evolve MMA. Marks Kerr and Coleman evolved MMA, Brock just proved if genetics are on your side, you’ve got a shot at doing well in MMA.
It is not about evolving the MMA… Brock helped evolve the UFC as a business.
Then the president of Spike needs to be inducted for taking a chance on TUF.
I am ok with that… Pete Rozelle is in the NFL Hall of Fame
I guess if I want Bo Jackson in at least the football Hall of Fame, I can accept Brock Lesnar in the UFC Hall of Fame (does it even have a physical location? the conference room at the Pearl at the Palms Resort and Casino?). MMA is the best and dumbest sport around, and this is kind of both.
I think we have all failed Brandon today… we didn’t use curse words.
Hmm, this didn’t work last time. The genetics point is basically what I thought of Lesnar when I first saw him fight. It’s hard to get excited about a fight with a 40 pound weight difference in modern UFC matches…apparently I can’t post links but google “lesnar fighting weight”.
It was pretty awesome to see Cain neutralize all of those advantages with technique, though. Out-wrestled the beast and then made him spin around.
Can’t talk about that fight without bringing up the not work safe cut that got opened up.
Your gif-fu is insane.
thanks, but googling ain’t too hard.
I don’t think he should be in UFC HOF but i think you are all wrong he did revolutionize the sport by bringing in a lot of new fans and became a household name