Issue 118

August 2014

How the ex heavyweight pro wrestler had the MMA world at his feet and walked away from it all

Dog years and mixed martial arts years seem to work within the same time frame in MMA. As an athlete’s career can go from promising start to disappointing finish in no time at all.

Just seven years ago, FO was anticipating the rise of a new force within the heavyweight division, following the MMA debut of four-time All-American wrestling champion and ex-pro wrestler, Brock Lesnar.

While his MMA career has come and gone in what seems no time at all, rumors still abound about the 36-year-old making a return to the Octagon. The fact those stories feed internet sites with several days’ worth of hits in a few hours, indicate not only the impact the Minnesotan man made in that short career, but what he left behind.

Back in August 2007, in a guest editorial following his 1:09 destruction of very first opponent Min-Soo Kim, we were calling out fans for saying Lesnar was “just another fake pro wrestler pumped up on steroids and setting himself up for a rude and painful awakening in a real sport.”

And they had their reasons, given MMA has a long history of pro wrestlers (often) failing to transition successfully to MMA. See two-time WWE champion Alberto Del Rio’s memorable October 2003 KO loss to Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ in Pride.

But, Lesnar’s debut hit the right note with us, as we heralded: “Every major MMA promotion should be trying to lock him into a deal.” Predictably the UFC signed him in October ‘07. Ahead of which we’d asked in that earlier column whether impatient promoters would rush him into big matches too soon. And we hit the nail on the head when he was submitted in the first round of his Octagon debut by ex-UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in 2008. It was the failure that we predicted for Lesnar, but a boon for MMA and the UFC as both feasted on the occasion’s extra coverage and the thousands of new fans turned on to the sport.

Lesnar would, of course, avenge that defeat in July ‘09 (making the first defense of the UFC heavyweight title he took from Randy Couture the November prior), with a second-round TKO destruction of Mir at UFC 100, the highest selling pay-per-view in the organization’s history. Proving Lesnar had turned his 69-second MMA experience into one of the most productive UFC careers ever, becoming truly the biggest draw in

the sport.

However, a stunning comeback victory against Shane Carwin at UFC 116 a year later was bookended by bouts of a debilitating intestinal illness that nearly killed Lesnar – who then suffered two devastating defeats to Cain Velasquez (UFC 121, in 2010) and Alistair Overeem (UFC 141, in 2011), moments after which he retired there and then in the Octagon mid Joe Rogan interview.

While his in-ring abilities have been questioned, his accomplishments in and out of the Octagon can’t be. 

NOSTRADAMMAUS:

LITTLE GUYS DELIVER LARGE

Admittedly we didn’t really have to use our imagination for this one, but that doesn’t make us any less correct. In our August 2007 issue, we couldn’t stop raving about the rollercoaster battle between UFC 72 lightweights Clay Guida and Tyson Griffin (both then 1-1 in the UFC).

After they turned in a crowd-pleasing decision we said both were “worth keeping an eye on” when they “proved to be the hidden jewel of the entire card.” Each have long and stellar UFC careers in the bag. 

Elsewhere in the August 2007 issue

The Mountain

Our K-1 fight breakdown went hand in hand with our article on whether or not Brock Lesnar was going to be ‘The Next Big Thing’. It looked in depth at his debut bout with Min-Soo Kim. Here at FO we believed the level of MMA displayed by Lesnar marked him out as something special and we predicted he’d be making waves in the Octagon. “Should he wish to, he could make a hefty impact within the sport,” we wrote. 

’Suga’ and spice and all things correctly predicted 

“If you think that Rashad is going to settle for anything but the top spot, then think again,” we wrote. In August 2007 Rashad Evans had just fought Tito Ortiz to a draw after bluntly KO’ing Sean Salmon with a forceful head kick just a few months earlier in January. 

Following that, we predicted the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 2, wouldn’t settle for a mid position in the rankings. And in winning the UFC belt at UFC 92 against Forrest Griffin, it took ‘Suga’ just a year to make our predictions come true.

’Big Nog,’ Big Plans, Bigger accomplishments

Ask any MMA fan to list their most exciting UFC heavyweight fighters of all time and there isn’t one who wouldn’t mention Rodrigo Nogueira.

Debuting in 1999, it took the Brazilian eight years to make his UFC debut but only three fights to become the interim heavyweight champion. 

In 2007 he discussed with FO how he’d changed his training methods after joining the UFC from Pride. When asked about his fight plan, the heavyweight told us he wouldn’t rely on just one aspect of his game and “wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as ‘Cro Cop’” in not preparing properly for rule changes, such as elbows and the cage. 

Undoubtably Nogueira has made his mark in the UFC and seven years after his Octagon debut, following a catalogue of memorable fights, it looks, sadly, like the 37-year-old may be about to close the final chapter.