It was billed as the fight everyone was waiting for. It was the main event of the evening. Brock Lesnar was to fight Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight championship of the world. The fans were going wild. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. The two superstars of the sport, Lesnar and Couture intended to duke it out to the end. The result was not surprising. Although Randy Couture is a tremendous fighter as a five time world champion, time was not on his side last night. It has been said in fighting that anybody can win on any given night. That is what makes the sport so exciting. It was said that Brock Lesnar's size would not be enough to take down the champion Couture. However, Lesnar came with more than sheer size.
It is true that in a fight, the big guy does not always have an advantage. If the smaller guy knows how to fight and possesses tremendous technical skill, the big guy is probably in a world of trouble. But what if the big guy knows how to fight too? What if the big guy is in the shape of his life and the smaller guy is not? There were a couple things that ticket buyers to last night's championship bout didn't want to think about.
There was no question that Randy Couture was the fan favorite going into the fight. Lesnar was the villain and he enjoyed playing that part. However, despite the fan fair and the hype, what most people refused to acknowledge was that Couture was going to fight at 45 years of age. The man has gotten older. He is still in great shape and put up a good fight. However, Lesnar is a monster. He appeared to tower over Couture and came in at 57 pounds heavier. Let me tell you, it was all muscle. Lesnar is a beast.
When you combine tremendous size with skill you have a devastating opponent. That was Lesnar last night. Although Couture is a great champion, he could not withstand the sheer power and developed skill of his younger opponent. The odds makers had Lesnar favored from the beginning and he made good. There were shots and take downs in the first round which had the crowd cheering for Couture mostly when he made good defensive maneuvers. It was a sign of what was to come.
In the second round, Lesnar smashed Couture with a punch that sent him to the canvas followed by a barrage of what seemed like endless hammer fist shots until the ref finally stopped the fight. It was as if the official wanted to see Couture make one more great escape and was giving him a chance. It was not to come.
Anyone with half a brain could have told you that this fight was about selling tickets and pay-per-view revenue. It wasn't much of a mystery who was going to win. It was more a question of how. Much like most of the big fights at the UFC these days, this fight was all about creating marquis value without much of a payoff. They have continued to struggle with putting together quality match ups at the championship levels and instead choose to hype up big names without much substance.
It was a good fight but didn't have much to it. I would never have paid to see it. The future match ups with Lesnar now will be interesting. It should be easier to find him an opponent than it has been for them to find Anderson Silva somebody to fight. Silva being another division champion whose fights are all dependent upon hype since he far outclasses any fighter the UFC has put in front of him. This is just another example of the UFC's difficulty to maintain a deep talent pool at championship levels.
Thank you Randy Couture for all you have given the sport, you are one of the greatest. The future should be interesting to watch indeed.
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