Pound for Pound: Lesnar vs. Mir

Strip away the WWE experience, the giant dagger tattoo and the bad attitude and I wonder if there might be a more deep-seated reason why MMA purists have been slow to embrace Brock Lesnar.

No, not the blatant homophobia, the flattop hairdo or the tiny red car he allegedly drives around in, either. There’s something else that bothers us, isn’t there?

Simply put, Lesnar makes it look too easy.

He challenges everything Bruce Lee taught us about technique, skill and training being superior to brute force. He’s been able to saunter in to the UFC with just one previous professional fight under his belt and tame the top competition that organization has to offer.

Admit it, MMA fans, that rubs us the wrong way.

Granted, Lesnar surely doesn’t lack for technique or skill – dude was an NCAA wrestling national champ, after all – but he’s still a relative beginner in MMA. By all rights, he should still be toiling away on the independent circuit, fighting at county fairgrounds on the weekends and sleeping in Sean Sherk’s basement during the week.

If you think Lesnar is scary now, imagine how terrifying he’d be if he’d gone the more conventional route and taken a couple years to get 8-12 fights under his belt in smaller organizations.

At this point, we’re basically watching his maturation process play out on the largest stage the sport has to offer. It’s astonishing to think that Lesnar has a chance to unify the UFC heavyweight titles on Saturday when he fights Frank Mir at UFC 100. It’ll be just the South Dakota native’s fifth MMA fight.

Even more astonishing: He’ll be a fairly heavy favorite.

Mir, an eight-year veteran with 15 fights who’s battled back after a horrific motorcycle accident in 2004, is the only man to defeat Lesnar thus far but most betting Web sites have him going off as the underdog for the pair’s second bout. Twenty-five other pro fighters polled on Sherdog.com also favor Lesnar, 16-9.

Most blame inexperience for the loss Lesnar suffered at UFC 81, when Mir caught him in a sloppy knee-bar just a minute and a half into their fight. Lesnar, on the other hand, blames referee Steve Mazzagatti, who restarted a fight the wrestler was clearly winning after Lesnar punched Mir in the back of the head.

“Mazzagatti was a f*****g dickhead … ,” said Lesnar during tapings for the UFC’s “Countdown” promo for this Saturday. “I’d like to punch his fucking mustache right off his face.”

Lesnar also blames the referee for not stepping in fast enough when Mir caught him in the submission, but has said Mir won’t hook him this time around. Most agree, as the prevailing opinion is that Lesnar will defeat Mir by TKO on July 11.

That seems the safest bet, since Lesnar’s dominant wrestling skills should let him dictate where the fight is contested. Though he’s shown a controlling top game in back-to-back victories over Heath Herring and Randy Couture, Lesnar has arguably been most impressive on his feet in his last two fights. He blistered Herring with a straight right just seconds into their bout at UFC 87 and then captured the UFC title by tagging Couture behind the ear in the second round at UFC 91 and following up with a barrage of strikes on the ground.

Mir also looked good on his feet against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 last December and there is a chance that his second engagement with Lesnar could turn into a slugfest. If Lesnar wants to avoid Mir’s submission skills, keeping the fight on the feet might be the best way and Mir likely won’t be able to take Lesnar to the mat.

No matter who wins, the UFC will come out of this event with a marketable undisputed champion; either the new colossus in Lesnar or the comeback kid in Mir. The company will also have a consensus No. 1 contender after Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin fight later this year.

Either way, fans have a lot to look forward to, even it much of it comes loaded with Lesnar’s continued reminders that it doesn’t suck to be 6-foot-2, 280 pounds of shrink-wrapped muscle. Sorry, purists.

Chad Dundas edits the blog www.mma-america.com and writes a weekly MMA column for CraveOnline. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.