I’m quite certain I wasn’t the only one shocked by the decision to have Randy Couture fight Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight belt in his first fight back in UFC.
In fact, judging by the questions from other reporters on the conference call this week, they were too and didn’t really know exactly how to respond to it.
The main objections can be broken down along two lines:
1) Does Lesnar deserve a title shot this early in his career?
2) Should he be getting it before Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira?
I think most people would agree the answer is no in both cases.
However, I do understand why the UFC went this route. Nogueira vs. Frank Mir is already signed. They’ve finally got their champion back and they don’t want to have to wait until early next year for him to fight.
They also don’t want their champion fighting in a non-title fight.
They could have put him up against more worthy opponents such as Fabricio Werdum or Cheick Kongo. But neither of those matchups would draw the same interest at this point.
Couture vs. Lesnar is a win-win. I don’t think too many people expect Lesnar to beat Couture, so chances are Couture will still have the belt to defend against Nogueira/Mir.
A Lesnar loss would also not hurt his career right now.
But if a big upset does happen and Lesnar wins, that’s good too. Imagine the UFC being able to boast how they took a former WWE fighter -- a move that was questioned when Lesnar first signed -- and made him a champion in just three fights!
I don’t think it will happen.
If this fight were to take place a year from now, I might lean Lesnar’s way. But I think it’s just too early for him. He doesn’t have the experience yet, not to mention I don’t think he has the conditioning to go five rounds if necessary. Sure, he was a star wrestler in college. But you need stamina of an entirely different kind in MMA, when you’re fighting not just on the ground, but standing up, throwing and dodging punches, trying for and defending takedowns, avoiding submissions, trying to apply or survive a ground and pound attack, etc.
Nate Marquardt, in an interview with Sportsnet this week, said it best:
"I think (Couture’s) got him in every area, even the wrestling, because he’s more accustomed to the MMA style of wrestling."
Of course, Marquardt went on to hedge his bet.
"But Lesnar’s huge and he’s got a puncher’s chance," he said. "He’s got a big puncher’s chance. So it’s an interesting matchup."
Marquardt’s UFC 88 opponent, Martin Kampmann, agreed that Couture should beat Lesnar, but his reason was much more simple.
"He’s the man," Kampmann said.
Kampmann even went a step further when asked who will emerge as champ at the end of the "heavyweight tournament" that includes Nogueira vs. Mir.
"Randy Couture, of course," Kampmann said. "He’s the champ and he’s going to stay the champ."
Speaking of Marquardt-Kampmann, that could be one of the better fights on Saturday’s televised card. And if Kampmann wins, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get the next shot at Anderson Silva’s middleweight title (after Yushin Okami).
In Marquardt you’ve got a former No. 1 middleweight contender, though he had his shot against Silva and lost. And a win for Kampmann would be his fifth in the UFC (with no losses) including one against Thales Leites.
Unfortunately, the rest of the televised card isn’t that interesting, including the main event: Franklin vs. Hamill.
Ho hum.
Henderson vs. Palhares: not the matchup you’d expect for a former holder of two Pride belts at the same time. And it got even less interesting with the loss of Karo Parisyan to injury.
Instead they add Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim.
Don’t know why.
But you never know, they could turn out to be great fights. There just isn’t much there to get excited about, unfortunately.
This leaves us with the headliner, Liddell vs. Evans.
While it could be a good fight, it has the potential to be really boring. I think Liddell won’t make the same mistakes he did with Keith Jardine. And I don’t think Evans will be able to stand with Liddell. I just hope The Iceman isn’t looking past Rashad to potential matchups with Forrest Griffin, Randy Couture or even Anderson Silva.
What a shame the MacDonald-Lambert fight is not on the main card.
The Athlete is always exciting, so let’s hope he makes it on the pay-per-view.
I like the Canadian in this one. In fact, it’s a really tough change for Lambert. Having lost three out of his past four and fighting for the first time at 185 pounds, it’s one thing to fight a relative newcomer in Jason Day. But to have to fight a seasoned veteran in MacDonald as a replacement, he can’t be happy with that.
For anyone who thinks the pressure is on MacDonald, it’s the other way around.
Besides, win or lose, don’t expect MacDonald to be going anywhere.
The UFC always likes to keep guys who they can count on to put on exciting fights, and that’s what they’ve got with The Athlete.
Don’t forget, they kept Patrick Cote when he was 0-4.
