Ariel Helwani makes the case:
Brock Lesnar needed a little less than seven minutes to avenge his February 2008 loss to Frank Mir at UFC 100 Saturday night in Las Vegas. He then needed only a couple of seconds to officially become the biggest villain in mixed martial arts.
Both occurences are great for the sport.
Lesnar's post-fight antics are sure to go down as one of the defining moments in UFC history, and it's fitting that it happened at this historic event.
First, Lesnar flipped off the crowd, who booed him from the moment he walked into the arena until the moment he left. Then he got in Mir's face and did some more trash-talking. As if his beatdown wasn't enough. Then he criticized one of the UFC's biggest sponsors, Bud Light, for not sponsoring him. And finally, he suggested he was going to make love to his wife, former WWE Diva, Rena "Sable" Mero, before the night was over. The crowd supposedly hated every minute of it. I thought it was brilliant.
I heard other members of the media throw around words like "disgraceful," "embarrassing" and "bad for the sport" immediately following Lesnar's post-fight celebration. I couldn't help but wonder if these individuals "get it."
How many times do we criticize athletes for being too bland or packaged? Have you ever heard a semi-interesting post-game interview on an NBA or NFL telecast? I sure haven't. Yet here was Lesnar, just moments after unifying the UFC's heavyweight title, showing some raw emotion and I'm supposed to think it's disgraceful? Sorry, no can do.
I agree. Well, I agree with everything besides Lesnar mentioning Bud Light in the fashion that he did. That's a blue chip sponsor, and you don't want to piss those guys off. However, other than that what can you say? The guy just demolished someone that had talked TONS of smack in the most arrogant fashion with whom he has his only career loss to. Not only that, he has now solidified himself as the heel of MMA. For those of you not familiar with pro rassling, that means he's the villian in the fight. He has now achieved and probably surpassed what Tito Ortiz was able to accomplish. He now has fans that will pay to either see him win, or pay to see him lose. In the end, you are paying to see him fight, which is all that really matters. When millions of people pay to see him fight, that is good for the sport. Hell, it's better than virtually nobody paying such as in the heyday of Tito Ortiz. MMA needs a fighter that people can get behind like in boxing's heyday with Mike Tyson as the champion. Brock Lesnar could very well be that guy.
Did you think Lesnar went overboard with the antics? Sound off in the comments section.
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