Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez: The Aftermath

He beat the ever-loving shit out of Brock Lesnar.

So now, Cain Velasquez, proud Mexican who was born in California, is the heavyweight champion of the UFC. His first test will be Junior dos Santos, the man that I thought might be the one to knock off Lesnar. dos Santos is 12-1 and 6-0 in the UFC. In his last fight he put on a striking performance that would have fell a horse and took 5-7 years off the back end of Roy Nelson’s life.

Let’s not look ahead though. There will be plenty of time for me to incorrectly predict the winner of the Velasquez – dos Santos fight when it gets here in the Spring. For now, let’s focus on Brock Lesnar, our fallen champion.

To Lesnar’s credit, he complimented Velasquez on kicking his ass and Brock Lesnar did, in fact, fuck with the wrong Mexican. The bout turned out to be a classic “fighter versus athlete” contest. Lesnar has all the athletic ability in the world and is an absolute monster, even with some of his size gone after his bout with diverticulitis and a new diet. He was an All-American wrestler and was close to making the Vikings when he left pro wrestling which requires incredible athletic ability. Lesnar is a physical freak, but that can only take you so far.

When Lesnar can’t get someone on their back and throw hammer fists, he looks damn ugly in the cage. Will he ever be a good boxer? Probably not. This fight came down to fighter versus athlete and the fighter won. Brock Lesnar doesn’t like to get hit in the face and that’s an inherent risk in fight sports. Luckily, he’s massive enough to stop most guys. Just so happened that Cain Velasquez wasn’t most guys on Saturday.

Finally, I want to address the early stoppage/illegal strike crowd – Cain did hit him square in the back of the head, but Lesnar was already rocked. Maybe a second before the shot to the back of the head, he ate a knee. Seconds before that, he stumbled across the Octagon like he was drunk. Velasquez landed shots early and often. He effectively and patiently pummeled Lesnar. Some people are saying that Lesnar verbally submitted. Whatever happened, Lesnar wasn’t getting up until the bell rang or the referee stopped the fight.