Who booked this $41t! Brock Lesnar lost to Frank Mir 90 seconds into the first round. Not 90 seconds into the third round. Not by split decision. Not because some clown parachuted into the ring with a hydroboat fan. He got his bubbled ass handed to him. Sure there are those who will claim that Lesnar dominated the first minute and was well on his way until the kneebar submission. Thatâs like saying âI was really getting somewhere with that supermodel until Tom Brady walked over and boinked her right in front of me.â Lesnarâs apologists are taking a page from the weekly Scooby-Doo villains with their âhe would have gotten away with it too, if it hadnât been for….â You know the rest.
While its true that Lesnar will certainly live to ultimate fight another day, he now has made less than auspicious debuts in three successive athletic endeavors. His run in the WWE was hardly one for the ages and his exit was litigious to say the least. His NFL turn was more reminiscent of Sidd Finch than Sid Luckman. And now this.
How would some of the legacy bookers have handled Lesnarâs MMA PPV debut:
Vince McMahon: The actual work inside the octagon would have been an afterthought. The only guarantee would be that both Lesnar and Mir would have opened the show with ten minutes each for a promo building their rematch.
Vince Russo: Just as Mir was about to lock the kneebar in place, Sable would have jumped onto the octagon apron and removed her little black dress revealing thong bikini bottoms and pasties in the shape of Dana Whiteâs face over her, uh, breast area. Distracted, Mir tapped out after a missed moonsault from the top of the octagon.
Bill Watts: It would have looked just it did at UFC 81.
The UFC does not have a problem. Itâs a shoot remember? Anything can happen. Lesnar will most assuredly appear on the several of the yearâs remaining events. Most likely in a âstudent vs. teacherâ match up against Keith Hackney or a George Foreman-Mike Tyson storyline against Kimo. And they will draw money.
The only speed bump on this MMA superhighway is (dare we suggest it?) that Lesnar cannot hang. Unlike pro-wrestling, MMA does not ignore losses. Lesnar cannot simply be expected to be a draw if he continues to lose. What will be telling is who his next opponent will be. Will it be a cupcake or bum-of-the-month or will he take a step up and fight a quality opponent? Will he take that chance? A win and the 90 second embarrassment (and it was that) will be forgotten. A loss and he is 0-2.
The loss to Mir is, as yet, meaningless. Its what happens next that will be uber-important. His MMA career continues or he gets a re-match against Bill Goldberg at the July TNA PPV.
