MMASucka

“Oh my god. How embarrassing is that?”

These were the words that came from the table next to mine after Chael Sonnen’s first cringe-inducing interview of Saturday evening. The one where he had compared himself to cigarettes before turning to the camera in David Caruso-like fashion and claimed that he “may be hazardous to your health”, looking for all the world that he was waiting for “Won’t Get Fooled Again” to kick off the opening credits to CSI: Miami.

I had successfully negotiated with the owner of the establishment to turn the TV from the NHL All-Stars skill competition to the UFC’s second Fox telecast. I knew that while it appeared to be a UFC neophyte crowd, they would surely fall as head over heels as I have with the sport and be glued to the human drama, the technique, and yes, a little organized violence. Then Sonnen spoke, and you could feel the air be let out of the room.

“Is this wrestling?” I heard another female patron ask. The evening had just become an uphill battle in the crusade to win over fans to mixed martial arts.

Recently, the “pro wrestling” antics of Sonnen and others have become a hot topic on MMASucka. Trevor Dueck wrote an article where he extolled the virtues of UFC/WWF crossover, and this past week on MMASucka Radio Canadian MMA personality Paul “The Mauler” Lazenby blasted anyone who thinks otherwise. Dueck and Lazenby are both great people. Dueck is an old-school WWF fan, while Lazenby is a former pro wrestler himself and friend of Sonnen’s. While I understand and respect their point of view, it may be time for them to step back and see how the other half lives.

Indeed, the most interesting Sonnen was on Saturday night were the fifteen minutes he spent in the cage doing battle with Michael Bisping. Not the Caruso moment before the fight, not the post-fight interview where he ripped off an old WWF interview from the 70′s. But since the crux of the argument of people who enjoy the pro wrestling antics is that it draws people to the sport, let’s examine that shall we?

Sonnen’s first foray into the pro wrestling style interviews was in the lead-up to his Middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 117. He was lauded for his trash-talking abilities and there were many who agreed that Sonnen had done the best job possible in promoting the fight. Some analysts, including Yahoo’s Dave Meltzer, predicted a monster pay-per-view buyrates.

The fight itself was incredible, as Sonnen fought a blistering pace for over four rounds, punishing the champion before being caught in a submission in the final frame. But the monster business that Sonnen was supposedly driving? Well, that didn’t exactly happen. UFC 117 did 600,000 buys, no slouch by any standards. The numbers were up slightly from Silva’s previous defence against Demian Maia, but below what Silva had done the previous year against Forrest Griffin.

The most telling number is that of Silva’s defence after he fought Sonnen. Silva faced off against fellow Brazilian Vitor Belfort, a man who couldn’t be less like Sonnen if he tried. Belfort’s pre-fight talk centers more on his training and spiritual beliefs then anything that sounds like it came from Roddy Piper. Yet Silva-Belfort did 725,000 buys, easily besting the Sonnen number without any of the pro wrestling style interviews preceding it.

If Sonnen was drawing so many new eyeballs to the sport, why wasn’t his number against Silva greater than Belfort’s? Moreover, why did none of these Sonnen fans spend money to see his comeback fight against Brian Stann? Sonnen’s comeback fight against Stann after sitting out a CSAC suspension for elevated testosterone levels was featured on UFC 136, an event which drew a paltry 225,000 buys. That number was the lowest for UFC’s pay-per-view offerings last year.

Saturday’s Fox event, an event supposedly buoyed by the trash-talk between Sonnen and Bisping, failed to meet the numbers of UFC’s premiere Fox event. The Sonnen-Bisping segment had less viewers than the main event of Evans-Davis, so was it really Chael’s WWF spiel people were tuning in for, or the fights themselves?

The other name that gets bandied about when people speak to the advantages of WWF-style promoting is Brock Lesnar. Lesnar turned to MMA after being a WWF star and became the biggest draw in UFC during his career. This much is true. Was it really the WWF-style antics that made people want to see Lesnar though? Initially, perhaps. Lesnar’s UFC debut against Frank Mir did a good number based at least in part of people wanting to see how a “WWF guy” would do in the cage against a UFC fighter.

People liked what they saw and obviously continued to follow Lesnar. But did WWF theatrics really have much to do with it? Or was it because people saw the massive, agile Lesnar laying beatings on Mir, Heath Herring, and Randy Couture and decided he was a fighter worth paying attention to? The Heavyweight championship in any combat sport is considered the pinnacle, and when you have a Heavyweight champion that looks as impressive as Lesnar did in stopping his opponents, that’s basically a license to print money.

If it was based on the WWF tie-in, why did Lesnar never do those kinds of numbers while he was headlining WWF pay-per-views? WWF pay-per-views headlined by Lesnar in 2002-04 averaged between the 275,000-400,000 buy range. If so much of Lesnar’s appeal came from pro wrestling, why were his actual pro wrestling numbers less than half of the business he was doing in UFC?

Now other fighters are hoping to jump on the Sonnen bandwagon and use pro wrestling style hype to their advantage. Ronda Rousey is the latest doing the schtick, laying it on thick in recent interviews trash-talking her upcoming opponent Miesha Tate, as well as telling former women’s champion “Cyborg” Santos that Santos “has a dick”. Rousey went on to criticize UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre for not being entertaining enough and saying that GSP has done all he can do for the sport.

I know Rousey is trying to get her name out there but this is just silliness. GSP is now the number one draw for the promotion. Dana White freely says GSP is the biggest star in the sport, even insisting that GSP is a bigger worldwide star than Wayne Gretzky (often to the chuckles of Canadians). GSP is also the prime example of how an athlete should carry themselves in public. Always affable and respectful outside of the cage, and a precision technician inside of it. The court of public opinion seems to rest on GSP’s side as well, as UFC events featuring the French Canadian since he became champion have topped 7.5 million buys. Rousey’s career pay-per-view total? Zero.

What the more vocal of the pro wrestling/MMA crossover audience fails to realize is that UFC is still struggling for mainstream acceptance. The pro wrestling shenanigans will do more harm than good in the long run in achieving this goal. The NFL is the top dog in mainstream sports right now, with over $9 billion in annual revenue. Who was the biggest story in the NFL this year? Tim Tebow. Tebow’s humble “aw, shucks” demeanor and constant shout-outs to his god are the kinds of wholesome stories that the mainstream media loves. As a confirmed and practicing atheist, I’m certainly not suggesting every fighter drop to a knee in prayer after every round, but Tebow’s story is one that people everywhere latched on to. Sonnen’s or Rousey’s have yet to permeate.

For years, the UFC struggled finding top-shelf mainstream sponsors for their product. I cringed a little whenever I heard Bruce Buffer yell out the slogan for Mickey’s Malt Liquor “get stung!”. Now the UFC has finally got excellent sponsorships with companies such as Bud Light and Harley-Davidson. Meanwhile, despite pulling good ratings on cable for a generation, Vince McMahon’s Monday Night Raw still finds itself lacking when it comes to top-flight sponsors. McMahon is also forced to accept a much lower ad rate than shows with comparable numbers. This is because corporate America views wrestling fans as low-income and low-education. Whether they’re right or wrong, perception is reality. Should UFC be trying to be more like the NFL or the WWF?

The ratings for Saturday night’s broadcast told another interesting story. Among the top markets tuning in were: Louisville, KY; Greenville, SC; Tulsa, OK; and Knoxville, TN. The UFC did almost double the number in those markets than they did in New York or Los Angeles. Mainstream sponsors appreciate the numbers in middle America, but assuredly they would like to see them stronger in the largest US markets, where many of them are headquartered. Making the presentation more like pro wrestling is not going to help matters in that area.

I love mixed martial arts. We are fortunate to be fans of the most exciting sport in the world. It’s aggressive yet technical, there are great human interest stories, it’s everything a fan of sports could want. I look forward to the day when this weekend’s Diaz-Condit fight is as highly anticipated as the Super Bowl the next day. Not one where people are looking down on what they see and are clamoring to have the TV put back on hockey players doing practice drills.  Dragging MMA down to the level of pro wrestling is not what’s going to get it there.

After rumors persisted about Chicago native and WWE superstar CM Punk walking down to the Octagon with Chael Sonnen at UFC on FOX 2 this Saturday night, it made me wonder if the UFC and WWE can work together and crossover. When talking to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Chael Sonnen made an interesting point about why he wanted “The Voice of the Voiceless” to walk out to the cage with him.

One… we’re friends, two… I really like him, three… it’s his hometown, four… he’s a big UFC fan and five… there is major crossover.  A number of years ago I think we all thought we had to compete with each other. That boxing, MMA and wrestling thought that we were going to have to have our own fans but what we have learned with time is that it’s not true. People are crossover fans and just all around fans, especially when you’re talking about CM Punk here in Chicago. That guy is royalty around here and I think it would have been fun for both of us.

Chael touched on an interesting point that I have been saying for years. How is professional wrestling, which is sports entertainment, in direct competition with the UFC? They don’t compete directly with PPVs nor do they compete directly on cable television. Show me how the UFC or the WWE have suffered in pay-per-view revenue because of one another?

It also seems that Dana White has a great deal of respect and admiration towards Vince McMahon. You can see how some of the marketing over the last couple of years has emulated professional wrestling in some respects. Yes MMA is a legitimate sport, and professional wrestling is professional athletes acting. I know… I get it. Please keep the hate mail to yourself and hear me out.

I know some of you are pulling your hair out once again because I just compared the UFC to the WWE, but I hate to burst your bubble, there are  a lot of fighters who have also grasped onto the idea that marketing oneself through cutting a good promo and hyping a fight is a great way to get noticed and make money. Sure nobody is ripping their shirts off and telling you to say your prayers and eat your vitamins, but adding a little spice and bringing out some personality is sure a hell of a lot better than thanking your trainers, God, and telling the fans that you will fight whoever the UFC lines up. Zzzzz…boring.

Chael Sonnen seems to understand this “technique” the most. Sure, it’s not for everyone. The sport still needs guys like GSP and Junior Dos Santos; all round good guys who do their talking in the cage. The sport is full of honorable classy guys and gals who feel they don’t need to talk a bit of trash, but you have to love Nick Diaz, Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Josh Koscheck, Ronda Rousey and Josh Barnett for stepping out of that mold and giving the UFC and Strikeforce some personality. Imagine if all fighters were like NHL hockey players? I don’t think the sport would survive. It’s the fight game and with fights there needs to be hype. This has been the way since the beginning of time. Hell, it worked wonders when the Romans promoted their Gladiators. Not much has changed.

Getting back to the point or the question of why the UFC can’t cross promote with the WWE? It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Remember when Ken Shamrock made his run in the WWF back in the 90’s? He came into professional wrestling  in his prime and was marketed as the “The World’s Most Dangerous Man,” a moniker ABC News gave him while he was fighting in the controversial UFC.  He was a UFC fighter getting into the WWF ring to feud with the likes of Vader, Brett “The Hitman” Hart and Shawn Michaels to name a few.

The WWF at the time had no problems having a former UFC fighter in their stable. To them it brought more legitimacy to their brand of sports entertainment.  Since then we have seen boxers like Mike Tyson, Buster Douglas and Floyd Mayweather cross promote within the WWE realm. Why would it be so crazy to see a UFC fighter do the same? Or vice versa?

Before Brock Lesnar retired there were rumors of him doing a special appearance at a Wrestlemania event to promote his upcoming UFC bout. Now how close that was to coming to actual fruition is not known. Those were merely just rumors and nobody really knows if that was accurate.

However, now that Lesnar is retired, do you not think that if he returned to the WWE that the storyline would be a former UFC heavyweight champ makes his return to the WWE ring? First off,  it’s not a matter of “if” it’s a matter of “when” Brock Lesnar returns to the WWE. They wouldn’t all of a sudden put him into their video game if they didn’t think he would make a return. The WWE is going to take their time in building his return to professional wrestling much like they have done with The Rock and his upcoming Wrestlemania bout with John Cena. Think about it, Lesnar hasn’t been in a WWE video game since “Here Comes The Pain” in 2003. Why did they all of a sudden include him now? When Lesnar does make his much anticipated debut how many UFC fans do you think will be tuning in? Don’t lie…you’ll watch.

Professional Wrestling, the UFC and boxing have proved that they can co-exist because in some ways they have very different target markets. Guess what? Some of their audience do crossover to each other. It is true Boxing has an older demographic, WWE has a younger demographic and the UFC seems to have an audience somewhere in the middle. Since the UFC has become more mainstream, those audiences are starting to blur into each other, which is great for all three sport entities. Why can’t someone enjoy boxing, MMA and wrestling? From what I’m seeing there are quite a few people who do.

Chael Sonnen is now playing down CM Punk’s appearance at UFC on FOX 2, claiming Vince McMahon kyboshed the idea. Who knows how accurate that is? WWE’s Royal Rumble is the next day and a little advertising at a UFC event to try and get a few more PPV buys doesn’t hurt. I wonder if this is Chael playing the media to make CM Punk’s appearance even more surprising when it does happen. We shall see. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Last year, there were meetings between Dana White and Vince McMahon. DW has never really divulged what those meetings were about. I do know at the time the WWE needed permission to use Brock Lesnar in their 2012 WWE video game and also allow Brock to promote it. Maybe there was an agreement in place to work together when it was convenient to help promote pay-per-views. With economic times being tough in the States, finding another marketing channel to advertise on once in a while is not always a bad thing.

Why would it be so crazy to see CM Punk walk down with Sonnen? It’s really not that big of a deal. We have seen WWE stars at live UFC events in the past. If Mike Goldberg were to mention that CM Punk is walking out with Chael Sonnen, and elude to the fact that he is involved in the WWE’s Royal Rumble on Sunday afternoon, would that be a bad thing? We have seen boxing and the WWE do crossovers. This symbiotic relationship has led to Batista walking out with Manny Pacquiao and HHH accompanying Mayweather to the ring.

On occasion, I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a UFC fighter do an appearance at a WWE event, or seeing a WWE guy walk out with a UFC fighter. Or maybe we see a UFC star like Nick Diaz try his hand at professional boxing or a high profile professional boxer enter the Octagon…oh wait we saw that already…never mind. You get what I mean.

MMA fans quiver when someone compares their sport to professional wrestling. What people forget is that if it wasn’t for professional wrestling, there would be no UFC. Here is something you may not have known. The UFC would have never had season one of the Ultimate Fighter on Spike had it not been for Vince McMahon giving Spike permission to air the show after Monday Night Raw. The rest is history. That is a fact.

That said, the UFC and WWE can work together on occasion and it can be mutually beneficial. I’m not sure what the big deal is. I haven’t been a huge WWE fan since “The Attitude Era” ended but I can understand the buzz that is created when the two organizations do a little crossover. It’s all in good fun. It’s true that Professional wrestling and MMA are apples and oranges but let’s not forget that they do come from the same fruit bowl.

-Corner Man-

Follow Trevor Dueck on Twitter @tdueckmania

Brock Lesnar announced his retirement in the cage at UFC 141. The man from Webster, South Dakota who had faced down the toughest heavyweights the sport has to offer as well as two separate bouts with diverticulitis, said he was fulfilling a promise to his family that if he lost to Alistair Overeem, he would pack in his MMA career and head back home. Thus ending the career of the most famous 5-3 fighter in the history of the sport, a man whose arrival on the MMA scene was as sudden and violent as his departure. A whirlwind of a career that packed highlights and controversy into four years what it takes others a lifetime to accomplish. His sudden departure from the sport will only further his near-mythical status, turning him into the MMA equivalent of Keyser Soze.

“I work for Keyser Soze.

Who’s Keyser Soze?

Judging from the sudden change in mood….I’m sure your associates can tell you.”

Lesnar burst onto the MMA scene in 2007 after a career as a pro wrestler and a failed attempt at making the NFL as a walk-on. The former NCAA amateur wrestling champion debuted at K-1 HERO’s debut on US soil, taking on Korean judoka Min Soo Kim. Lesnar destroyed Kim in just over a minute, and the MMA world waited with baited breath to see what he would do next. They wouldn’t have to wait long.

At UFC 77, Dana White announced that Lesnar had indeed signed with the promotion, and would make his debut in the co-main event of UFC 81, taking on veteran Frank Mir. The move immediately polarized the MMA fanbase, with some decrying how a “phony pro wrestler” with a career record of 1-0 could be put in a prestigious main event slot. Others chose to focused on Lesnar’s collegiate background, size and athleticism and wondered if we might be seeing the birth of something truly special.

The time came for UFC 81 and as soon as the bell sounded, Lesnar immediately took Mir down and unleashed with vicious ground and pound. As Mir turned his head, one of Lesnar’s canned ham-sized fists made contact with the back of the head. Referee Steve Mazzagatti immediately called time and deducted a point for the foul, then stood both fighters back up. Lesnar appeared angry, but after the restart dropped Mir with a cannon-like right hand and resumed the ground and pound. Mir, the jiu-jitsu expert, worked to retain guard and Lesnar made the rookie mistake of standing up, leaving his leg exposed. A kneebar later, and Lesnar had lost his UFC debut.

The result undoubtedly was not the one Lesnar wanted, but the debut was still impressive. People who had doubted Lesnar’s claim for a place on the UFC roster went silent. The volume and ferocity of the ground and pound Lesnar had dished out had won over many of his detractors and left pundits wondering who hew would take on next.

“Soze showed these men of will what will really was.”

Lesnar’s next opponent proved to be Heath Herring, the Pride veteran who almost equalled Lesnar’s size and was famous for both his wars with Minotauro Nogueira and crazy hairstyles. Herring, the logic went, would be a good litmus test of just how much Lesnar was “for real”, and show where he was in the division’s pecking order. The answer was clear just seconds into the fight, as Lesnar landed a massive right hand that sent Herring somersaulting backwards. Lesnar pounced on Herring and never let up, using his wrestling to completely neutralize Herring en route to a unanimous decision victory. “Can you see me now?” Lesnar bellowed in his post-fight interview. Indeed, every pair of eyes in the sport were now focused directly on him.

UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture was embroiled in a contract dispute with Zuffa at this time, so the promotion had created an interim Heavyweight title, held by Minotauro Nogueira, who was prepared to defend that title against Frank Mir. In a move that surprised many, Couture reached a settlement with Zuffa and agreed to return to the octagon to defend his title against the heavyweight division’s new phenom, Brock Lesnar.

Couture had a history of doing what was perceived to be impossible. He did it so many times that you couldn’t use the word “upset”, Couture simply defied the odds. He had won the heavyweight title by defeating Tim Sylvia, a man even larger than Lesnar. It was a clash between a wily veteran known for having the best game plans in the sport and a man who looked and fought like he was created by scientists in a genetic engineering lab.

The clash at UFC 91 was billed by some as the biggest in UFC history. Couture was attempting to employ a strategy that involved a lot of clinch work but was tellingly having difficulty with Lesnar’s size and strength. Then it happened. Midway through the second round, Lesnar nailed Couture with a right hand that landed behind the ear and hit Couture’s reset button. The follow-up ground and pound was merely elementary as the fight was stopped and Lesnar was declared victorious. There was no one who could dare doubt Lesnar now. He was now at the pinnacle of the sport. He was the Heavyweight Champion of the world.

The fight not only determined that Lesnar was the top fighter in the heavyweight division, he was now the company’s top pay per view draw. UFC 91 did over one million buys and at the time was the second highest drawing card in the promotion’s history. But there was one dragon that had to be slain, one loss that had to be avenged. Frank Mir.

Mir had defeated Nogueira for the interim Heavyweight title and now he and Lesnar were poised to face each other in a rematch to unify the two titles. The event was to be held at UFC 100, a historic number that UFC hyped massively. The two had exchanged taunts in the media, with Lesnar claiming Mir was simply lucky in their first encounter and putting much of the blame for the loss on referee Steve Mazzagatti. Mir responded by saying that he was hoping Lesnar would be the UFC’s first in-cage fatality.

They met at the center of the octagon for the stare down each flanked by extra security. The amount of rhetoric between the two had increased so much that no one was wanting to take any chances that the fight might begin before the bell.

Lesnar pulverized Mir over the next two rounds before referee Herb Dean (who was appointed the official after Lesnar has specifically requested that Mazzagatti not be assigned to the fight) called a merciful end. Mir’s face was was a grotesque sight, swollen and bloody. Lesnar then went on a post-fight tirade in his interview where he not only insulted Mir but UFC sponsor Bud Light, and also talked about his plans to “get on top of his wife” later in the evening.

UFC 100 smashed the all-time pay-per-view record with a staggering 1.6 million buys. The event is still by far the highest-grossing event in the promotion’s history. ESPN covered both Lesnar’s win and post-fight antics. Brock Lesnar was mainstream. There appeared to be nothing that could stop him.

“He becomes a myth. A spook story. Something criminals tell their kids at night. ‘Rat on your Pop, and Keyser Soze will get you.’”

Indeed a took something outside the cage to bring down the Lesnar juggernaut. In November 2009, Dana White announced that Lesnar had taken ill with diverticulitis, and the future of his career was in doubt. Lesnar didn’t return to the cage until the next summer to face Shane Carwin, who had won an interim title in Lesnar’s absence. Carwin battered Lesnar in the first round, with Lesnar showing a vulnerability that had eluded him to this point in his career. Carwin exhausted himself from punching and in the second round Lesnar took advantage, sinking an arm-triangle choke and again becoming the undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

The formerly invincible veneer of Lesnar had been shattered however. He continued to insist he had made a complete recovery from his illness but questions persisted whether Lesnar was the same fighter that had struck fear throughout the division. His next title defence against Cain Velasquez saw Velasquez dominate Lesnar en route to a first round stoppage. Without the title and forced to re-evaluate his approach, Lesnar prepared for a number one contender fight against Brazilian striker Junior dos Santos.

During training for the dos Santos fight, Lesnar’s diverticulitis returned. This time, Lesnar was forced to undergo a major operation that removed a foot of his colon. Again his career was thrown in doubt as the toll on Lesnar’s health was immense. He sat out for a full year before the loss to Overeem, in which the Dutch kickboxer targeted his surgically repaired midsection with pinpoint accuracy.

“And like that, …. he’s gone.”

Lesnar became a legendary figure in his brief career. He retires with four of the top-six highest grossing pay-per-views in company history. Additionally, he became the prototype of the new generation of heavyweights who cut weight to make the 265 pound limit but sacrifice nothing in the way of skill. In the end, it was not a fighter but a disease that felled the monolithic warrior. He will be remembered as a Tyson-like figure, known not just for his vicious power but his controversial nature. He has the sort of mythic quality that transcends the sport. In the future people will ask of heavyweights of the day “could he have beaten Lesnar in his prime?” as if he were a spectre haunting the heavyweight division from his reclusive ranch in South Dakota. Lesnar’s impact will be felt for years to come.

All quotes from the film “The Usual Suspects”. If you haven’t seen it, do so immediately.

By Justin Faux

Last night amidst one of the busiest weekend’s combat sports has seen all year Brock Lesnar is the hot topic of discussion.

It was billed as the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history when the NCAA Division I champion met the K-1 kickboxing champion in a throw-back to the early days of the promotions history with a traditional striker vs. grappler showdown.

There were millions of questions circling both men and it didn’t take long for them to be answered – Despite suffering a cut early above his eye “The Demolition Man” relentlessly stalked Lesnar who only reverted back to his bread-n-butter  wrestling game on one occasion with a takedown attempt that was easily stuffed.

As we were about to reach the half-way point of the first of five potential rounds Overeem connected with three shots to the liver with the final one dropping Lesnar who was swarmed on with strikes.

The former WWE Champion announced his intentions to walk-away from the sport in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

“I’ve had a really difficult couple years with my disease,” Lesnar said after the fight. “And I’m officially going to say this is the last time you’ll see me in the octagon.”

Brock added that he had promised his wife, Sable of WWE stardom and his child that if he won this fight he would get a title shot and that would be his last fight. But if he lost, as he did, he would retire.

It’s been a busy few years for the Webster, South Dakoda native beginning his career in 2007 Lesnar did in eight professional bouts more than what most could do in eighty.

In 2008 with only one octagon victory under his belt Lesnar dominated two-division champion and first ballot Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture en route to winning his first UFC title which he would go on to defend twice.

In 2009 he had his first flare with the severe intestinal aliment diverticulitis during a hunting trip in Canada and after spending 11 days in hospital the imposing giant had lost 40 pounds and was recommended to have surgery to remove his colon.

This year he would once again be troubled by diverticulitis which would force him to cancel his UFC 131 bout with rival coach Junior Dos Santos on the thirteenth season of Spike TV’s hit reality series The Ultimate Fighter.

Now with a 5-3 professional record and for the first time in his career suffering back-to-back defeats Lesnar hangs up his gloves.

Literally seconds later the key-words “Brock Lesnar” and “WWE” were trending worldwide so you can guess what people were talking about.

Following winning the NCAA Division I Championship for the University of Minnesota he chose a career in professional wrestling over going to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia for one simple reason – Money.

Over his four-year career with the WWE he made plenty of it taking the wrestling word by storm and achieving almost everything that there was to do.

Conspiracy theorists have been hard at work since last night proceedings with wet dreams about Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28.

Will the former champ return home to the WWE after nearly an eight-year hiatus? Yes, but not right now.

Firstly, Lesnar will not return to the WWE on a full-time schedule unless it was for the most ridiculous amounts of cash. Lesnar speaks in his autobiography about the toll that a 300+ day schedule in the WWE can take on your body which forced him to an addiction to Vicodin and Vodka and at 34-years-of-age I don’t know if that’s something he really wants to do again. Secondly, returning in time for WrestleMania in April of 2012 wouldn’t make as much of an impact as it would have in years prior because the Main Event for this year’s super-show is The Rock vs. John Cena. I would be shocked if Brock Lesnar never made a big return to the WWE for a few big-time paydays at their big events.

Brock Lesnar has tried his hand at a lot of things in life between MMA, a try-out with the Minnesota Vikings that came up empty and an amateur wrestling career but he found the most success being a part of the WWE roster.

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UFC 141 was the perfect event to end a banner year for the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion. We saw the rise of young new stars with Alexander Gustafsson and Jimy Hettes.  Alistair Overeem, Nate Diaz and Johny Hendricks fought to make their cases for title contentions. We also witnessed the retirement of one of the biggest draws in MMA, Brock Lesnar.  Let’s take a look at what may be next for the fighters of UFC 141 in the coming new year.

Alistair Overeem

“The Reem” passed his octagon debut with flying colors, overcoming changes in management, camps and training locations.  He went back and forth from Holland to Las Vegas and back to Holland to take care of his ailing mother. Overeem is truly the consummate professional as in each interview prior to the fight he seemed calm and focused on his fight against Brock Lesnar, regardless of any distraction around him.

His calm demeanor followed him into the fight as he was not distracted by a dripping gash that was opened up above his right eye by a Lesnar punch. He defeated Lesnar with an array of knees and a text book liver kick that Bas Rutten would be proud of, but would not take credit for as Rutten states on his twitter (@BasRuttenMMA) “…I heard a liver kick was the KO? That’s awesome, Cor Hemmers taught him well!”

After his dominant performance against a former champion in Lesnar, Overeem is well deserving of a title shot against current heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.  The match up will showcase very different striking styles of Overeem’s Dutch kickboxing against Dos Santos’ orthodox boxing and will surely be much anticipated.

Brock Lesnar

After a hard loss against Alistair Overeem, Lesnar had announced his retirement from the UFC. The timing of his decision makes a lot of sense.  He has already made it to the pinnacle of the organization when he defeated Randy Couture to win the UFC heavyweight championship in only his fourth professional bout.  Factoring in his 2 bouts against Diverticulitis which had set him back from fighting often for the past 2 years, he made the decision to call it a career

Although retiring from MMA, many media sources had question about a possible return to the world of professional wrestling where he gained the majority of his fame.  UFC president, Dana White, has quickly squashed the idea as Lesnar may have retired, but he is technically still under contract preventing him from performing for the WWE.

Nate Diaz

Just as we have thought that the lightweight division title contention picture had been calmed after Ben Henderson defeated Clay Guida to solidify the next contender,  Nate Diaz had to put on an impressive victory against another top contender, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone to shake things up.  Diaz defeated Cerrone at the stand up game landing and incredible 258 out of 314 strikes.  That’s 82 percent!

As the next lightweight championship bout does not happen for another 2 months in Japan, Diaz will have enough time to fight a title contender eliminator to solidify his spot.  To win a rematch against Clay Guida or Gray Maynard would be enough to prove he can beat the strongest of wrestlers the UFC lightweight division has to offer and that he deserves a shot at gold.

Johny Hendricks

2 time NCAA division I wrestling champion, Johny Hendricks, has done what neither welterweight champion, George St-Pierre, or former champion, BJ Penn, could not accomplish:  stop Fitch, the number 2 welterweight in the world, before the end of the last round.  Not only finish, but KO Fitch in the first round just 12 seconds in.

With that statement made, Hendricks throws himself right in the middle of the welterweight title picture.  So long as former title contender Josh Koscheck can defeat Mike Peirce in February, it would be great to see Koscheck have a chance to avenge his stable mate, Fitch, against Hendricks, and solidify who gets a crack at the winner of Carlos Condit versus Nick Diaz.

Rise of the Young Guns- Alexander Gustafsson and Jimy Hettes

Both light heavyweight Gustafsson and featherweight Hettes are 24 years old and are considered the future of their respective divisions after they have dominated dangerous veterans this past weekend.

Sweden’s Gustafsson used his length and striking advantage to keep strong grappler Vladimir Matyushenko at bay and score a TKO victory taking him to a 5-1 UFC record.  Many have compared him to Jon Jones as he has the same lanky build and has received a similar progression of fights in his early career. If we are following Jones’ recipe of success, Gustafsson’s next test should Stephan Bonnar.

Jimy Hettes extended his undefeated record to 10-0 with a dominating win against Ultimate Fighter reality show alumni Nam Pham.  Hettes used his strong Judo and attempted several submissions en route to the decision victory.  Up next for Hettes should be a test to see how he stands up against the next level of featherweights. A fight against another young up and comer Erik Koch would be a great choice so long as Koch is healed from injury.

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Last night following a TKO loss to Alistair Overeem in the first round of the main event at 141, Brock Lesnar announced his retirement.

Prior to the fight with Overeem, Lesnar had been out of action for over a year with a back and forth battle with diverticulitus. Whether or not it was ring rust, we may never know.

Following the loss a very emotional Lesnar had this to say to the crowd.

“I’ve had a really difficult couple years with my disease,” said Lesnar. “And I’m officially going to say this is the last time you’ll see me in the octagon.”

Lesnar who made his way over to MMA in 2008 following a career in the WWE went 5-3 with 4 of those wins in the UFC.

Why read other UFC predictions when you can you have a nice laugh in reading mine. At UFC 141 I went (3-2). Meh. I’ll throw out an old sports cliché, “the bounces aren’t going our way.” To be honest I don’t know too many people who were expecting Mark Hominick to lose the way he did and I think most of us can agree that Claude Patrick deserved a better fate against Ebersole. But we won’t cry over spilt milk, instead we will raise our glasses for another edition of MMASucka.com’s Half-Cut Picks for UFC 141.

Live from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, UFC 141 gives us two large behemoths, in Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem, squaring off in a five round non-title fight. Before I get to my fight picks, here is the beer of choice for this FRIDAY’s UFC fist-a-cuffs. That’s right, I said Friday…not Saturday. It’s just a friendly reminder.

Beer of choice is Coors Light. You heard me. “That’s a Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me nothing.” Sorry I couldn’t resist, so in honor of Brock Lesnar and his famous UFC 100 rant, today’s beer of choice is Coors Light. I’m not going to go into the details of all the tasty features of a can of Coors Light or tell you what it goes well with. It’s Freakin’ Coors Light… it probably goes well with the untagged mule deer you just shot moments ago.

MAIN EVENT Heavyweight - Brock Lesnar (5-2) vs. Alistair Overeem (35-11)

When this fight was first announced I immediately giggled an evil girlish type of giggle and prognosticated that “somebody gonna get a hurt real bad.” – Russell Peters.

That somebody was Brock Lesnar. There was no doubt in my mind that Overeem was the huge favorite and will probably be considered the favorite all the way up to fight day. After seeing what Cain Velasquez did to Lesnar almost fourteen months ago, I thought we may have seen the kryptonite for the “the baddest man on the planet.” Just imagine what Overeeem is going to do to Lesnar, I thought.

Now I’m not so sure. Overeem is a K1 Grand Prix Champion, Strikeforce Champion, and Dream Champion. Those titles are great and I’m sure they will keep his massive pants up, but to be honest have we seen Overeem in the cage or ring with anyone in the top ten? Todd Duffee aside, to me, Brock Lesnar has to be considered Overeem’s toughest opponent in years. I kid about Todd Duffee. This could be Overeem’s biggest fight of his career. As great as his stand up is, and no matter how many times he has put an opponent to sleep with a vicious guillotine, “The Reem” has never faced a giant of a man that can move like a light heavyweight. Overeem may have some solid take down defense but he has never fought a guy with this kind of wrestling pedigree. No not even Brett Rogers.

Brock Lesnar knows what he has to do in order to win this fight. He has to maul Overeem like a grizzly bear and keep him down. Lesnar has to rain down some vicious ground and pound and make Overeem quit. Although this fight is scheduled for a five round main event, I don’t see it going past three. Every part of my being wants to take Overeem because I think his striking is too good. I want to follow the popular vote on this one. But for some reason I’m going to go with my hunch and take Lesnar via TKO in the second round. As of right now, Lesnar seems more prepared and focused. We’ll see if that translates into a win. Who wouldn’t want to see Lesnar pick up a badly beaten Overeem and throw him on his shoulders and haul him out of the back country….of….MGM Grand Garden…never mind.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Lightweight – Donald Cerrone (17-3) vs. Nate Diaz (14-7)

Anytime you fling off the hat of a cowboy you’re asking for trouble. Anytime you choose to have a stare down with a Stockton kid, you’re in for some tomfoolery. Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone has no problems being just as brash and full of piss and vinegar like a Diaz brother. Both Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone have been throwing some trash talk back and forth and it has created a match up with some real hate. Nothing is better when two guys go into a fight with real emotion. The question is, who will keep that emotion in check and focus on the task at hand?

Donald Cerrone has been considered one of the best breakthrough fighters of 2011. Since his arrival into the UFC’s lightweight division, Cerrone has gone 4-0 in the UFC and a fifth win has to make him a favorite to take on the winner of the lightweight title fight between Champion Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in Japan.

This has all the makings to be fight of the night. Nate likes to mix his unorthodox style of Stockton boxing with a deadly ground game. Cerrone likes to throw down too and we could see an all out war happen within the pocket. That should make the drunk crowd happy. Although Nate’s style of boxing is unique like his big brother Nick, I can’t imagine that Diaz will be able to take too much punishment from a Muay Thai national champ in “The Cowboy.”

Cerrone is going to be too much for Diaz and will be able to dictate the pace of the fight. Diaz will look to throw punches in bunches, but it will be Cerrone’s power and kicks that will do more damage. For Diaz to win this fight he is going to have to take the fight to the ground and keep Cerrone from getting top position. In what will be an entertaining fight, I’m taking Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision.

Winner: Donald Cerrone

Welterweights - Jon Fitch (23-3-1) vs. Johny Hendricks (11-1)

Some of you are thinking that this is the “go to the bathroom fight” or “order the pizza” part of the card. But you are wrong. Although Fitch’s style is not pretty and he is considered by many to be one of the most boring fighters in the game, you have to admire that he just keeps winning. To me, Fitch is the second best welterweight in the world, next to UFC champ, George St. Pierre. However, he has a tough test in the highly decorated wrestler in Johny Hendricks. The Oklahoma native has shown that he is not content on being one dimensional. He is 6-1 in the UFC and three of those wins have been by technical knock out. Hendrick’s will want to make sure that he can use his superior wrestling to keep Fitch from taking him down. Instead Hendricks should test Fitch’s stand up game. It’s not like either of these guys are the second coming of Muhammad Ali, but I really do think that Hendricks best chance to winning this fight is keeping the fight standing.

This is a tough fight to pick a winner. I think the wrestling of Hendrick’s could take a big part of Fitch’s game away. Fitch likes to grind guys out on the ground. If Hendricks can keep the fight standing he may have a better chance of winning. Styles make fights and as physically strong as Fitch is, I see Hendricks neutralizing the wrestling and winning on landing some valuable stand up points for an upset decision victory. It’s a risky pick, but this edition of Half-Cut seems to be about hunches. Maybe it’s something in the water, no wait…that’s my Coors light.

Winner: Johny Hendricks

Light Heavyweight - Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (12-1)

This is “The Janitor” versus the up and coming Swede. Both fighters are coming off impressive wins with Matyushenko disposing of Jason Brilz via KO at UFC 129 and Gustafsson pounding out Matt Hamill at UFC 133. Just imagine if your old school janitor was Matyushenko, it would make you think twice of streaking the floors now wouldn’t it?

To me Gustafsson is the more dangerous fighter. He possesses a stronger stand up game and isn’t afraid to go to the ground either. For Matyushenko to win this fight he is going to have to try and control the fight on the mat. It won’t be an easy task to keep the lanky Swede down, but it maybe Matyushenko’s only hope of winning the fight. Gustafsson is a risk taker and will sometimes put himself in harm’s way on the ground to find a dominant position. This is where Matyushenko will have to try and find an opening.

Unfortunately I think Gustafsson will be too much for the Belarusian and will pick “The Janitor” a part on the feet. Look for Gustafsson to drop Matyushenko in the first round and win via KO/TKO. Poor janitor.

Winner: Alexander Gustafsson

Featherweight - Nam Phan (17-9) vs. Jim Hettes (9-0)

This is a tough fight to make a call on. You have the great Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in Jim Hettes against the solid stand up skills of Nam Phan. In my humble opinion experience comes to play here. Hettes has never been out of the second round and has won all nine of his fights via submission. Phan has a granite chin and does have some solid all round skills, but it will be his fast hands that could wear on the Pennsylvania native. I think Phan will show some good takedown defense and will be able to keep Hettes on the outside. This is where Phan will be able to pick him apart with a solid straight jab. I’m taking Phan via decision. Probably another stupid pick and I will most likely curse the name Hettes in the end. I will Damn him to hell.

Winner: Nam Phan

Well there you go. If you were to go to Bodog and put down a parlay bet on my above picks (which I recommend you don’t) $5 could get you $75.97 – Not too shabby.

Please drink responsibly tonight and enjoy New Years Eve tomorrow. Happy New Year everyone! 2012 will be your last year on earth so make it count. Next round will be at UFC 142.

Make sure to join me on Twitter @tdueckmania

-Corner Man-

Current Half-Cut Record (12-8)

Now enjoy this video! (The Brock Lesnar Hunting Video they don’t want you to see.)

Related Posts:

• UFC 141 Weigh-Ins Results and Video
• Countdown to UFC 141 Full Video

The UFC will be holding their pre-fight press conference for this Friday’s (Dec.30) UFC 141 event today (Dec.28). You can watch the press conference live on MMASucka.com beginning at approximately 1pm PT/4pm ET.

Today’s press conference takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino’s main lobby in Las Vegas and will be open to the general public. Expected to be in attendance are  UFC president Dana White and UFC 141 fighters Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone.

This time around THQ has simulated the UFC 141 main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem using UFC Undisputed 3. UFC 141 goes down on December 30 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the simulation Overeem will have his hand held as the victor. They are predicting he wins by KO in the very first round. They simulated the fight 25 times using the AI and these are the stats thanks to BloodyElbow.com.

- 25 simulated matches. 13 won by Overeem, 12 by Lesnar

- Lesnar attempted a total of 287 takedowns (11.5 per fight)

- Lesnar and Overeem “rocked” each other an equal amount of times in the 25 bouts.

- Lesnar won two bouts via arm triangle.

- 92% (12 of 13) of the bouts Overeem won were by knockout.